Los Angeles, Feb 16 (IANS): Singer Tommy Yuen, the former member of the Canto-pop boy band 'E-kids', has been put behind the bars by the national security police of Hong Kong over the suspicion of sedition and money laundering but, he hasn't been charged yet.

As per Variety, local media and rights groups reported that Hong Kong authorities have also blocked access in the city to a pro-democracy website operated from the U.K. However, senior superintendent Steve Li refused to identify Yuen as the 41-year-old man, who was taken away by national security officers.

But he did admit during a press briefing that the man was arrested for making comments in public and online on social media that were deemed carrying "seditious intent". As per Steve Li, Tommy's seditious acts included his last year's November performance of a song containing lyrics "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times", which was a widely used slogan during the 2019 pro-democracy protests.

Li said during last July's first trial of a national security case, the court had established that the slogan could incite people to support secession of Hong Kong from China. The man in the July case was given a nine-year prison term for using the slogan on a banner.

In addition, the singer has also been accused of criticising the city government's strategy against the pandemic. He had earlier claimed that those taking COVID-19 jabs could die. For nearly two years, Hong Kong had managed very low levels of virus infection. But that changed with the emergence of the Omicron variant which has led to a huge surge in cases.

The second serious allegation against the singer is that of money laundering by the police who have also arrested a 20-year-old unemployed man in connection.