In the picture, Mr. Lai is escorted to the Hong Kong Correctional Service van. Credit: AFP
Publishers and editors around the world called for the immediate release of Hong Kong media mogul and press freedom activist Jimmy Lai and denounced the city's ongoing crackdown on the media.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, 113 senior figures The publishing world has joined the international Reporters Without Borders to profit by demanding that all charges against Mr. Lai and 28 other Hong Kong journalists be dropped.
“We … are united in supporting Apple Daily founder and publisher Jimmy Lai and his fight for media pluralism and press freedom in Hong Kong,” the statement said, referring to a pro-democracy newspaper that was attacked by police in 2020 and forced to close under strong political pressure. Pressure.
“Jimmy Lai has championed these values all his life and founded Apple Daily to provide Hong Kong residents with access to vital independent information,” the post reads. continued.
“Showing great courage, he decided to stay in Hong Kong and continued to publish as much as he could, despite the brutal repression around him.”
Lai, 75, has long been on the Chinese Communist Party's radar for his outspoken views on fundamental rights and is one of the most prominent pro-democracy activists in the so-called «Hong Kong 47» currently on trial for subversion under the city's national security law.
Handcuffed and escorted by security guards, Mr. Lai walks out of the Lai Chi Kok Reception Center. Credit: Getty Images
Suddenly sweeping legislation was introduced in 2020 in what many saw as an attempt to silence dissent following massive anti-government protests in 2019.
It criminalizes vaguely defined acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, all of which are punishable by life imprisonment.
Mr. Lai also served time for participating in a banned protest in memory of the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in China. Last year, he was jailed for almost six years for fraud. His supporters dismiss the case as politically motivated.
< p>The publishers' statement, signed by the editors of the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Times and The Guardian, accuses the authorities of persecuting Mr. Lai for his independent reporting.
“Now is our turn to stand up for Jimmy Lai, whose detention only damages the reputation of the authorities in both China and Hong Kong. Arbitrary accusations against him are clear violations of Chinese, Hong Kong and international law,” the post reads.
Apple Daily Hong Kong office in 2020. Photo: NurPhoto
He is also calling for the restoration of all Hong Kong media outlets that have been pressured to stop publishing as Beijing tightens its grip on the city's once vibrant and irreverent media scene.
«Targeting this 75-year-old- an old emblem of press freedom, the Chinese regime has attempted to control information beyond its borders and made it a concern for the world. When freedom of the press is threatened anywhere, it is threatened everywhere,” the statement says.
Among the signatories of the statement are Nobel Peace Prize winners Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of the Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta. , and Maria Ressa, editor of the Philippine news website Rappler, whose reporting has faced a string of legal allegations.
Sebastian Lai, son of Jimmy Lai, said: "Hong Kong is now shrouded in a blanket of fear … My father has been in prison since 2020 because he opposed the CCP's rule. Because he stood up for what he believed in. It is very touching to see so many influential people — Nobel laureates and many leading newspapers and media around the world — speak out for him"
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