USA – Amnesty USA, November 18, 2024
Ahead of this week’s resumption of the national security trial of Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and founder of the defunct Apple Daily newspaper, Amnesty International’s China Director Sarah Brooks said:
“The years-long pre-trial incarceration of a 76-year-old man simply because his newspaper dared to criticize the government and report public discussions lays bare the disintegration of respect for human rights in Hong Kong.
“Lai’s case is not being heard by a jury; instead, the decision rests with a judge handpicked by Hong Kong’s chief executive. Lai, like almost all others in ‘national security’ cases, has been denied the right to bail and prevented from choosing his own lawyer. His trial is a shameful retreat from general principles of fair treatment, dignity and due process.
“The authorities’ cruel persecution of Jimmy Lai is motivated solely by his exercise of the right to freedom of expression and commitment to press freedoms. He is a prisoner of conscience, and the Hong Kong authorities must release him immediately and unconditionally, drop the charges and expunge all his criminal convictions.”
