Hong Kong’s national security police have arrested a 71-year-old man on suspicion of disclosing details of one of their probes, invoking a provision that covers prejudicing such investigations for the first time.
Police said the National Security Department conducted an enforcement operation on Saturday, and the suspect was arrested.
He was accused of violating the provision of “no prejudicing of investigation of offences endangering national security” under Section 88 of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance passed last year.
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Police said it was the first time the provision had been used by the force to make an arrest.
The suspect is Wong Kwok-ngon, who was a writer for the now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid newspaper and deputy convenor of the disbanded Civil Human Rights Front, according to a source.
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Police said the suspect assisted with an investigation with the force’s National Security Department on December 2 and allegedly disclosed details of the probe in a video uploaded to his YouTube account the following day.