Publisher Jimmy Lai is one of the longest-held prisoners under Hong Kong’s national security law established five years ago, and is being targeted for his journalistic work, according to a new report by Amnesty International.
Mr. Lai, founder of the now-shuttered pro-democracy Apple Daily, was denied bail and has been in solitary confinement for four and a half years.
The courts have denied bail in 89 per cent of cases under the Beijing-imposed national security law, with the average length of pre-trial detention totalling 11 months, according to a new Amnesty report on the impact of the law on human rights.
Mr. Lai was held in pre-trial detention for almost three years before his trial started in December, 2023, and is still being held in solitary confinement.
His international lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallagher told The Globe and Mail on Monday she is very worried about the conditions the 77-year-old, who has diabetes, is being held in.
Ms. Gallagher has concerns about the effect on Mr. Lai of the summer heat in the detention centre where he is jailed awaiting his trial to resume in August.
The report, published on Monday, analyzed the impact of Hong Kong’s National Security Law on human rights in the former British colony. It found that the law is being used to curb dissent and freedom of expression.
Hong Kong’s League of Social Democrats to disband amid ‘immense political pressure’
The report also expresses concern about how long people charged under the national security law and a sedition law are being held in prison awaiting trial.
The sedition law had not been used since the 1960s, when Hong Kong was still under British rule, until it was resurrected five years ago. According to Amnesty, hundreds of people have been arrested for “seditious speech” since the colonial-era law was revived.
“The sedition law is really a charge of conspiracy to commit journalism,” Ms. Gallagher said.
Amnesty says that more than 300 people have been arrested for endangering national security under “all relevant laws” since June, 2020.
It found that of the 78 concluded cases under the national security law, at least 66 “involved only legitimate expression that should not have been criminalized with no evidence or violent conduct or incitement.”
The report says that Mr. Lai’s case is a “striking example” of detention for speaking out.
It concluded that Mr. Lai and six senior staff members of the Apple Daily newspaper “were targeted for their journalistic work.”
All seven of them were charged with “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” under the national security law, and for sedition.
The prosecution alleged that they published 161 seditious articles that called on the public to take to the streets, incited hatred against the government, corrupted the minds of vulnerable individuals and appealed to foreign countries to impose sanctions on China and Hong Kong.
The six staff members pleaded guilty to the collusion charge after being detained for between 488 and 521 days. But Mr. Lai pleaded not guilty.
“Notwithstanding the guilty pleas, Amnesty International considers that none of the charges against these seven individuals should ever have been brought in the first place, as they relate to legitimate exercises of freedom of expression with no incitement to violence,” the report said.
The report found that since Hong Kong’s national security law was introduced on June 30, 2020, long-standing rights, including freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and association have been “severely curtailed.”
The Hong Kong government, in its response to Amnesty, said that residents continue to use various means to express their views on government policies and public affairs. But it said “many of the rights and freedoms are not absolute,” the report says.
The government also cited court rulings to demonstrate its view that the current restriction on freedom of expression does not exceed what is “reasonably necessary” for the protection of national security.
Mr. Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai, earlier this month addressed the UN Human Rights Council about the case of his father, saying he faces the rest of his life in prison “because of his peaceful expression of opinion and for supporting democratic values.”
Addressing the council, he said there has been a recent “escalation in the detention, harassment, and persecution of journalists and writers for their reporting on local, national or international events, including on elections.”
Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s China director, said “Hong Kong’s national security framework is being systematically misused to suppress dissent.”
Ms. Gallagher said a request had been lodged for the businessman to be immediately and unconditionally released so he can join his family in Canada or Britain.
“It’s a ‘Bring Him Home’ case, so he can live with his family outside Hong Kong,” she said.
The businessman has close family in Canada, including a twin sister, and has significant investments here, such as hotels, restaurants and spas in Ontario, including in the tourist hub of Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Read more on The Globe and Mail
