Hong Kong media magnate Jimmy Lai, who has been held in solitary confinement for more than three years, faces life imprisonment following a “baseless” trial which begins Monday in the former British colony.
The 76-year-old, founder and publisher ofApple Dailya popular pro-democracy daily closed in 2021, is the subject of accusations of “collusion with foreigners” and “sedition” stemming from a national security law adopted at the instigation of Beijing.
Canadian lawyer Brandon Silver, who is part of the international team of lawyers ensuring his defense, indicated Friday that the accusations had “no basis” and aimed to “silence Mr. Lai and stop his campaign” by favor of democracy.
The national security law, which was introduced to try to put an end to the large wave of pro-democracy protests that rocked Hong Kong at the end of the last decade, has already been used against several journalists.
Jimmy Lai was a high-profile critic of the Chinese communist regime before his arrest in August 2020, and as such represents a “serious ideological threat” to the regime, notes Maya Wang, who is responsible for China at Human Rights Watch .
The fact that the newspaper was published in Chinese and therefore accessible to the local population made the situation even more irritating for Beijing, underlines the activist, who describes the upcoming trial as a sinister “farce”.
The accusations have nothing to do with the actions of Mr. Lai, who did nothing other than exercise his right to freedom of expression, she notes.
Worrying state of health
Some of the lawyers representing Jimmy Lai said they had received death threats. A pro-Beijing newspaper also published several articles accusing them of being “anti-Chinese” and of wanting to “manipulate” the trial by trying to attract the attention of the international community.
The length of Mr. Lai’s solitary confinement also goes against the United Nations’ minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners.
They suggest resorting to solitary confinement only “as a last resort” and for “the shortest possible period”, notes Mme Wang, noting that detention for more than two weeks “could constitute torture”.
Mr. Silver, who is attached to the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, said Friday that the inmate’s family was concerned about his health and the potential impact of the upcoming proceedings.
We are afraid that he will not survive the trial and the imprisonment that will follow.
Brandon Silver, one of the lawyers defending Jimmy Lai
Lawyers traveled to Ottawa this week to plead the detainee’s case before members of the House of Commons, who adopted a motion Thursday calling for his “immediate release.”
The motion, supported on Friday by the Senate, was welcomed by Sebastien Lai, who thanked Canada for supporting his father and “giving hope of seeing him free”.
PHOTO I-HWA CHENG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Sebastien Lai describes his father’s upcoming trial as “theater”.
In an interview with the Reuters agency On Friday, he said he was convinced that the outcome of the upcoming trial was “decided in advance”, even if the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities claim the opposite.
“There’s no real reason to be anxious about what might happen in court since it’s complete theater,” noted Jimmy Lai’s son, who said he was proud to see his father “stand up to the authorities to defend the freedom of others.”
Cautious media
The national security law has had a deleterious effect on press freedom in the former colony and reduced the number of independent media to a crawl.
There are still brave journalists doing their work openly or more discreetly, but they must proceed with caution and there is a lot of self-censorship. They walk on a tightrope and know that one wrong choice of word could be enough to land them in prison.
Maya Wang, Human Rights Watch
She hopes that Western countries will raise their voices to promote the release of Jimmy Lai and will not hesitate in the context to apply sanctions against those responsible for human rights violations in the former colony in Hong Kong and China.
“Democratic governments must send an unequivocal message to the Chinese government to make it clear that repression comes with a cost,” underlines the representative of Human Rights Watch.