Governments and lawmakers have condemned the conviction of former Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai on Monday (Dec. 15) calling it politically motivated and an erasure of the democracy and freedom of speech of the Hong Kong people by Beijing.
“The guilty verdict in Mr. Lai’s national security case reflects the enforcement of Beijing’s laws to silence those who seek to protect freedom of speech and other fundamental rights—rights that China pledged to uphold in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration. Mr. Lai is not alone in facing punishment for defending these rights,” Rubio said in a statement Dec. 15.
The European External Action Service, the European Union’s diplomatic arm, echoed the same sentiment.
“This prosecution is politically motivated and emblematic of the erosion of democracy and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong since the imposition of the National Security Law in 2020,” the European External Action Service said in a statement, reiterating a call for Lai’s immediate and unconditional release.
The National Security Law (NSL) imposed by the CCP in 2020 criminalises the secession, subversion, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign organisations including any open speech, verbal promotion or intention of Hong Kong’s secession from China.
Lai, 78, founder of the now-defunct pro-democracy Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, and an outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was convicted on Monday on all three charges against him—Two counts of “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” and one count of “sedition” under a colonial-era sedition law.
Lai was arrested in August 2020 following CCP’s imposition of the NSL in June the same year. He has been imprisoned since he was charged in December 2020. Lai’s family and legal team had reported that he suffers from diabetes and was not receiving adequate medical care, and had been kept in solitary confinement for the past five years.
Lai will be sentenced at a later date following Monday’s conviction and could face life imprisonment.
Lai pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
US President Donald Trump said on Dec. 15 that he has spoken to Chinese leader Xi Jinping about Lai’s release.
“I feel so badly,” Trump said during a press briefing. “I asked to consider his release. He’s not well. He’s an older man, and he’s not well. So I did put that request out. We’ll see what happens.”
The UK government said Lai was targeted by the CCP for “peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.”
“The UK condemns the politically motivated prosecution of Jimmy Lai that has resulted in today’s guilty verdict,” UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement on X. “We continue to call for Mr. Lai’s immediate release, for all necessary treatment and for full access to independent medical professionals.”
About 76 lawmakers from 30 countries have issued a statement calling on governments worldwide to condemn the “travesty of justice.”
“Had the Sino-British Joint Declaration and other binding instruments of international law been honoured by Beijing, this prosecution could never have proceeded,” lawmakers from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) said in the statement.
“Jimmy Lai’s suffering is therefore due, in part, to the failure of the international community to enforce China’s legal obligations.”
The lawmakers urged their governments to make it clear that serious violations of international law will have “consequences.”
“There can be no business-as-usual with a state that persecutes innocent individuals on fabricated grounds,” they said in the statement.
The Hong Kong media tycoon’s conviction has left Taiwan and the international community “deeply saddened and disappointed,” the Mainland Affairs Council in Taipei, Taiwan, said.
“The Hong Kong government has always stressed … ‘telling Hong Kong’s story well,’ but no amount of narrative can cover up the fact that it suppresses freedom of speech and persecutes pro-democracy activists,” the Taiwanese government agency, which is responsible for overseeing relations with Beijing, said in a statement.
The ruling against Lai essentially serves as a “declaration” to the world that freedoms, democracy, and judicial independence in Hong Kong have been “systematically eroded,” it stated.
