A 68-year-old Macao resident surnamed Au has been arrested on suspicion of violating national security laws.
In a statement issued this afternoon, the Judiciary Police stated that it had apprehended the man at his home in the city’s central district for further investigation. In a Facebook post, public broadcaster TDM said “According to information provided to TDM, the suspect is former legislator Au Kam San.”
Multiple foreign media outlets have also reported the arrest of Au Kam San, citing “local media” as their source. However, local law enforcement officials have neither confirmed nor denied the full identity of the arrested individual.
The statement from the Judiciary Police accused the suspect of having “been in contact with an anti-China organisation abroad since 2022,” and of “providing the group with large amounts of false and seditious information, for public exhibitions overseas and online.” The organisation is not named.
The statement goes on to allege that the arrested man continued to supply the organisation with such information after Macao’s national security law was updated in 2023. He is also accused of attempting to incite “hatred” against the mainland Chinese and Macao governments, of trying to disrupt the 2024 chief executive election, and of seeking to persuade foreign countries to take malicious action against Macao.
The man has been charged under article 13 of Macao’s national security law, which relates to “contacting organisations, groups or individuals outside of the Macao SAR in order to commit acts that threaten national security,” and the case is expected to be handed over to the Public Prosecutions Office for processing.
[See more: Twelve potential candidates have been barred from Macao’s legislative election]
Macao’s revised national security law introduced stringent punishments for offences relating to sedition, secession and subversion, and came several years after the 2019 to 2020 Hong Kong protests that led to the neighbouring SAR also strengthening its national security laws.
If the arrested man is confirmed to be Au Kam San, it would mark a spectacular reversal of fortune for the former Macao legislator and leading member of the city’s pro-democratic camp.
Formerly a school teacher, Au became a legislator in 1993 and continued to serve as a directly elected representative in the post-handover period between 2001 and 2021. Along with his political partner António Ng Kuok-cheong, he has been one of the most outspoken pro-democratic figures in Macao.
In 2021, Au announced he would not be seeking reelection. Meanwhile, Ng and many other pro-democratic legislators were deemed ineligible for the 2021 Legislative Assembly election due to what security officials described as their lack of loyalty towards the SAR.
The latest arrest comes shortly after 12 potential candidates for September’s legislative assembly election were similarly disqualified for failing to satisfy authorities of their loyalty to Macao and its mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law.
