A group of politicians from nine countries has requested to serve as witnesses in the trial of Jimmy Lai, an imprisoned pro-democracy advocate and media tycoon, in Hong Kong.
In a letter to the Hong Kong Department of Justice, the group, including former and current lawmaker members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), outlines the reasons for allowing them to present their evidence in court to ensure a fair trial.
The group said that although their members’ names were mentioned at least 50 times during the case, they had not been contacted to provide statements to support the investigation. “This failure undermines the integrity of the investigation and limits the prosecution’s ability to present a complete picture to the court,” the letter reads.
“The fact that IPAC as ‘witnesses’ or ’accomplices’ to an alleged crime has never been approached by the Hong Kong authorities is revelatory of the degree to which the integrity of this trial is in question,” said Luke de Pulford, the executive director of IPAC, who has been cited in the proceedings. “In any normal rule of law jurisdiction, it would be inconceivable that apparent witnesses would be avoided simply because their evidence might be inconvenient.”
“From the start, the national security law trial of Jimmy Lai has had the hallmarks of a foregone conclusion. If the court really wants the truth, the Department of Justice will accept our evidence,” he added.
In the letter, the group offers to testify in front of the court to provide complete information “to assist the court fairly and objectively to arrive at the truth and to serve justice.”
The signatories include senior British figures, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws and former leader of the Conservative Party Iain Duncan Smith; members of the European Parliament Reinhard Bütikofer and Miriam Lexmann; Czech Foreign Affairs Committee chair Senator Pavel Fischer; and former Canadian Attorney General Irwin Cotler.
Mr. Lai, an outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has been imprisoned since December 2020 following his arrest during a sweeping clampdown on the city’s pro-democracy activists under a national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong four years ago.
Born in China and holding British citizenship, Mr. Lai founded the pro-democracy media outlet Apple Daily in 1995, before Hong Kong’s handover to mainland China in 1997. The outlet was raided in 2020 following his arrest and it was subsequently forced to shut down in 2021 under the national security law due to its criticism of the CCP.
Last month, Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) introduced legislation to rename the address of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Washington to 1 Jimmy Lai Way, in recognition of Mr. Lai’s fight for Hong Kong’s freedom against the CCP.
“We will continue to press for Jimmy Lai’s unconditional release and seek ways to raise the diplomatic and reputational costs globally for the Hong Kong government and their Chinese Communist Party masters for their rough dismantling of democratic freedoms and the rule of law in Hong Kong,” Mr. Smith said in a press release for the legislation.
According to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies released earlier this month, Hong Kong’s autonomy has significantly eroded since 2020 as the Chinese regime has tightened its grip on the city.
The report states that as of February 2023, 291 people had been arrested for allegedly engaging in activities that threaten national security since the law was implemented. It notes that cash bounties have been placed on at least 13 Hong Kong overseas opposition figures and activists, fostering a climate of fear even among those who manage to escape the city.
