Stop targeting Jimmy Lai and other pro-democracy voices: Dominic Raab
U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab joins a growing list of international politicians to call on the Hong Kong authorities to stop persecuting Jimmy Lai, founder of pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily.
“The Hong Kong National Security Law breaches the internationally-binding Joint Declaration, and is now being used to charge Jimmy Lai. This highlights the authorities’ continued attacks on the rights and freedoms of its people,” Raab said in a statement.
“We have raised this case with the authorities in Hong Kong and call on them to end their targeting of Lai and other pro-democracy voices.”
The 73-year-old media tycoon is accused of colluding with foreign forces under the national security law and remanded in custody until his trial in April next year.
An editorial on The Sunday Times, titled “The world is shamefully silent on the plight of Hong Kong,” noted that Lai holds U.K. citizenship. “But the government’s response, apart from expressing ‘deep concerns’ has been muted.”
The author agreed with the former colonial governor, Chris Patten, who described Beijing’s clamp down of Hong Kong as putting the territory “into handcuffs.” China deserves more international condemnation and the “one country, two systems” framework, which is supposed to guarantee Hong Kong’s freedoms and autonomy, is no longer working, the articles stressed.
The editorial also noted that more Hong Kong citizens are seeking to leave and the British authorities, which will open a new visa for BNO holders, expect around half a million Hongkongers to move to the U.K. in the next three years.
“The arrival of well-educated, entrepreneurial Hong Kong people will benefit Britain and they should be welcomed with open arms,” it concluded. “The Chinese authorities will have only themselves to blame.”
Click
here for Chinese version
---------------------------------
Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app:
bit.ly/2yMMfQETo download the latest version,
Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play