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Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday that the 12 Hong Kong residents suspected of violating the national security law in Hong Kong and arrested in Chinese mainland waters while on the run will be charged according to mainland law. 

Lam told Hong Kong media that the HKSAR government has been informed about the case, as the mainland and the city signed a treaty two years ago. With regard to legal assistance and access for the suspects arrested in the mainland, Lam said the HKSAR government will follow up on their legitimate requests. But since they allegedly violated mainland law, they must be charged according to those laws.

Chinese mainland maritime police in August arrested 12 people suspected of illegally crossing the border in waters under mainland jurisdiction in Guangdong Province. Hong Kong media reported that one of them was an anti-government rioter who allegedly violated the national security law for Hong Kong, and had been released on bail pending an investigation. 

"The 12 allegedly secretly transported people across the national boundary or border, which violates the Criminal Law of China," Li Xiaobing, an expert on Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan studies at Nankai University in Tianjin, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The law states that defendants in mainland courts have the right to employ lawyers during trial. However, the attorneys must have acquired certificates issued in the Chinese mainland rather than in Hong Kong, Li noted.

Mainland maritime police announced on Sina Weibo on August 26 that Guangdong provincial maritime police seized a speedboat suspected of illegally crossing the border in waters under mainland jurisdiction, and detained more than 10 suspects, including one person surnamed Lee and another surnamed Tang. The case was under investigation, the announcement said. 

Hong Kong media reported that the boat was carrying 12 young Hong Kong residents who tried to escape to the island of Taiwan to seek "political asylum," and that Lee is a member of the anti-government group "Hong Kong Story." He was arrested in Hong Kong on August 10, but was later released on bail.