The United States and the United Kingdom call for the release of publisher Jimmy Lai. The prominent democracy campaigner in Hong Kong will stand trial there from Monday for ‘crimes against national security’. Washington and London call the process ‘politically motivated’.
76-year-old Lai, who is critical of China, has been in custody since 2020 and could face life in prison for violating the controversial National Security Law imposed by Beijing on the semi-autonomous region of Hong Kong. Lai, former owner of the forced-to-close Hong Kong newspaper Apple Dailyis said to have been guilty of colluding with foreign powers.
“As a prominent and outspoken journalist and publisher, Jimmy Lai has become the target of an action aimed at restricting his freedom of expression and association,” British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in a statement.
Cameron met with the son of the well-known dissident, Sebastien Lai, in London last Tuesday. China reacted angrily and accused the United Kingdom of having “evil intentions” towards the former British colony.
The US is also calling for Lai’s immediate release. “The United States condemns the prosecution of pro-democracy activist and media owner Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong under the Chinese-imposed National Security Law,” a US State Department spokesperson said in a statement. Since China introduced the security law, the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong has been suppressed.
The European Union and the United Nations have also expressed concern about the prosecution of Lai, a British citizen. That criticism has been rejected by Beijing as slander and interference.
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