Every time Chloe Cheung leaves her house in London, she checks behind her back.
The same goes for when she takes the subway. Cheung, 20, never takes the same route to work two days in a row, and always comes and goes at unexpected times. She constantly checks her rearview mirror while driving.
This is all because Hong Kong’s government placed a bounty of $HK1 million ($128,000) on Cheung’s head last December. She fled Hong Kong in 2019 when authorities began arresting pro-democracy student protesters like her. Anyone who can share information on where she is or help arrest her can get a reward.
Even worse, the British government might make it easier for Hong Kong to go after political targets in exile. British officials are considering allowing extraditions by the Chinese Communist Party-backed government on a case-by-case basis, according to a letter leaked last week by Conservative politician Alicia Kearns.
That letter—written by the UK’s security minister, Dan Jarvis—said that “it is in our national interest to have effective extradition relationships to prevent criminals from evading justice and the UK becoming a haven for fugitives.”
