Chinese police said Saturday an employee at the British Consulate in Hong Kong who was detained on the mainland has been released.
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Public security authorities in Shenzhen said Simon Cheng Man-kit was released as scheduled after 15 days of administrative detention.
The Luohu public security bureau in Shenzhen, the mainland city neighboring Hong Kong, made the announcement on its Weibo microblog account.
Cheng was detained for violating mainland Chinese law and “confessed to his illegal acts,” the statement said, without providing further details.
“Simon is released. Simon is safe,” said Max Chung, organizer of a rally earlier this week to urge the British government to step up efforts to free Cheng.
The case has stoked fears among Hong Kong residents that Beijing is extending its judicial reach to Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory and former British colony.
“The relevant employee is a Hong Kong resident, not a British citizen,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a briefing earlier this week. “In other words, he is Chinese. This is purely the internal affairs of China.”
Geng has previously said the man violated regulations on “Punishments in Public Order and Security Administration,” but gave no further details at the time, adding that his case was “not a diplomatic issue.”
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