Cantopop star and prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Denise Ho was arrested at her home on Wednesday morning by the city’s national security police.
She was one of six people arrested in an early morning operation, all linked to online media organization Stand News. Police later confirmed at a news conference that a seventh person had been arrested. They have been accused by police of « conspiracy to publish seditious material, » a colonial-era crime. Ho, a former Stand News board member, was born in Hong Kong but grew up in Canada. She found fame in the early 2000s with a string of hit albums, before later building a successful career as an actress. She later became an international face of Hong Hong’s pro-democracy movement, appearing before both the United Nations and the United States Congress. Police spent more than two hours at Ho’s home Wednesday, according to her assistant, who asked not to be named. Officers seized phones and computers, as well as Ho’s identification card and passport. She was then taken to a police station, according to a post on Ho’s verified Facebook page.