The detention of the former deputy marks a first under Macau’s national security legislation, enacted in 2009 and revised in 2023. This development arises amidst intensifying restrictions on fundamental freedoms in the Macau Special Administrative Region.
Au Kam San was first elected as a deputy in 2001, a result of the Basic Law’s expansion for Macau, serving until 2021 as part of the democratic faction in Macau.
A document from IL articulates that Portugal has a “duty to closely monitor” the case and ensure respect for the commitments established in the 1987 Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration, a legally binding document under international law.
The National Assembly “cannot remain silent in the face of the imprisonment of a fellow citizen who dedicated his life to defending freedom, nor can it ignore the degradation of the regime of freedoms in Macau,” it states.
On Thursday, the pro-democracy former deputy was detained on suspicions of violating the National Security Law, now held in preventive detention. The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Macau cited “strong indications of engagement in establishing connections with organizations, associations, or individuals outside” of Macau “for acts against state security” as the reason.
Police suspect Au Kam San of providing an “anti-China organization” with “a large amount of false, provocative information for public display abroad and online on social networks.”
The European Union today condemned the detention of Macau’s former deputy and Portuguese citizen Au Kam San, with the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirming its monitoring of the situation.
“The issue will receive the best attention from the Portuguese authorities, particularly in future political discussions, in the spirit of the Joint Declaration,” stated an official from the ministry led by Paulo Rangel, referencing the 1987 Sino-Portuguese treaty, which outlined the terms under which Beijing would assume administration of Macau after 1999.
