UN human rights experts calls Hong Kong for immediate release of activist Jimmy Lai

Anjali Sharma

GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 23rd Jan. UN human rights experts on Monday called on the authorities in Hong Kong to drop all charges against pro-democracy media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai and release him immediately, in a press release issued in New York.

OHCHR noted that Mr. Lai is the founder of the campaigning pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, which was shut down in 2021 in the wake of the June 2020 National Security Law clampdown in the region.

It said that Mr. Lai has spent past three years in solitary confinement after campaigning for decades for freedom of speech and democratic space in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

The experts said that he was arrested in August 2020, Lai was charged with sedition and foreign collusion under the new legislation. Charges related to tweets, interviews and articles he published in Apple Daily outlining the impact of the National Security Law on Hong Kong’s fundamental rights and freedoms.

They stressed that Mr. Lai’s trial on allegedly breaching national security measures got underway after lengthy delays in December. He faces life in prison if found guilty.

“Jimmy Lai’s arrest, detention and series of criminal proceedings over the past few years appear to be directly related to his criticism of the Chinese Government and his support for democracy in Hong Kong SAR,” the experts said.

“We are alarmed by the multiple and serious violations of Jimmy Lai’s freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association and his right to a fair trial, including the denial of access to a lawyer of his own choosing and the handpicking of judges by the authorities,” the experts added.

The office of human rights said that Mr. Lai was convicted of unauthorized assembly in 2021 for taking part in protests and sentenced to 17 months in prison. He received an additional five years and 9 months for fraud in October 2022.

UN human rights experts raised concerns with authorities in 2020 and 2023.

They appreciate and have considered the extensive government responses of 10 July 2020 and 1 May 2023 and stand ready to continue their dialogue with the authorities, in a statement released.

“We expressed our concerns about the National Security Law before it was enacted and will continue to do so, as we believe it is not in line with international legal obligations,” the experts said.

They echoed the Human Rights Committee’s call on the Hong Kong SAR to repeal the law.

Mr. Lai is the second defendant to be tried under the controversial National Security Law after last year’s trial of 47 pro-democracy activists, who are awaiting a verdict reportedly due next month.

The experts said “We reiterate that national security legislation with criminal sanctions should never be misused against those exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association and of peaceful assembly nor to deprive such persons of their personal liberty through arrest and detention.”