#FreedomOfSpeech #PoliceState
#PoliticalOppression
#Free #JimmyLai" – Campaign for world attention on Hong Kong #HumanRights and Press Freedom
On Chinese New Year’s eve (Jan 31), a series of transatlantic illuminations aiming to draw international attention on China's #authoritarian rule over Hong Kong were seen on the walls of Tower Bridge in London and Chinese Embassy in Washington DC.
Bright white lights reading "Free Jimmy Lai and the Apple 7" of three storey tall were projected onto the walls.
In addition, the illuminations also showed the "Olympics rings in thorns", a portrait of Jimmy Lai and a yellow umbrella, the symbol of the 2014 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong.
The US-based designer, Robin Bell said his intention was to grab people's attention on Human Rights around the world.
Mark L. Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, shared photographs of the illuminations on his Twitter page, calling the upcoming #WinterOlympics in #Beijing " the most shameful Olympics since the 1936 Nazi Olympics in Berlin”.
#ProtestArt #RobinBell #MarkClifford #AppleDaily #FreedomOfSpeech #FreedomOfPublication
Source: RFA; #Jan31
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/uk-jimmy-02012022155410.html
#PoliticalOppression
#Free #JimmyLai" – Campaign for world attention on Hong Kong #HumanRights and Press Freedom
On Chinese New Year’s eve (Jan 31), a series of transatlantic illuminations aiming to draw international attention on China's #authoritarian rule over Hong Kong were seen on the walls of Tower Bridge in London and Chinese Embassy in Washington DC.
Bright white lights reading "Free Jimmy Lai and the Apple 7" of three storey tall were projected onto the walls.
In addition, the illuminations also showed the "Olympics rings in thorns", a portrait of Jimmy Lai and a yellow umbrella, the symbol of the 2014 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong.
The US-based designer, Robin Bell said his intention was to grab people's attention on Human Rights around the world.
Mark L. Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, shared photographs of the illuminations on his Twitter page, calling the upcoming #WinterOlympics in #Beijing " the most shameful Olympics since the 1936 Nazi Olympics in Berlin”.
#ProtestArt #RobinBell #MarkClifford #AppleDaily #FreedomOfSpeech #FreedomOfPublication
Source: RFA; #Jan31
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/uk-jimmy-02012022155410.html
Radio Free Asia
【香港人權】「釋放黎智英」光影現倫敦「塔橋」 「雨傘」射落中國駐美大使館
倫敦「塔橋」及中國駐美大使館牆身在周一晚被打上「釋放黎智英及蘋果七人」及諷刺北京冬奧的投影。藝術家貝爾表示，創作該作品望喚起世人對香港人權的關注，又指只是北京冬奧前其中一個抗議活動。
#PressFreedom
Pro-democeacy news anchor stumbles in career development in Hong Kong
Young news anchor, Ingrid #TseHingYee worked for three media outlets in three years. Her disrupted career, is a sad reflection of Hong Kong's stifled media and banished press freedom.
Most recently, Tse was seen hosting a press briefing for the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institution.
She thanked her supporters after the briefing, saying that she is pondering possible developments in her career.
Tse joined #AppleDaily in 2021 after resigning from i-Cable in 2019 due to arguments about editorial decisions.
The 25-year-old journalist moved to work in online media Hong Kong #CitizenNews after Apple Daily was folded in June 2021.
In January 2022, Citizen News announced plans to close after some 200 police raided #StandNews, another independent media outlet in Hong Kong, citing concerns about the safety of its staff.
Source: inmediahk; #Feb12
https://bit.ly/3gVtGwl
Pro-democeacy news anchor stumbles in career development in Hong Kong
Young news anchor, Ingrid #TseHingYee worked for three media outlets in three years. Her disrupted career, is a sad reflection of Hong Kong's stifled media and banished press freedom.
Most recently, Tse was seen hosting a press briefing for the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institution.
She thanked her supporters after the briefing, saying that she is pondering possible developments in her career.
Tse joined #AppleDaily in 2021 after resigning from i-Cable in 2019 due to arguments about editorial decisions.
The 25-year-old journalist moved to work in online media Hong Kong #CitizenNews after Apple Daily was folded in June 2021.
In January 2022, Citizen News announced plans to close after some 200 police raided #StandNews, another independent media outlet in Hong Kong, citing concerns about the safety of its staff.
Source: inmediahk; #Feb12
https://bit.ly/3gVtGwl
No One Is Safe in Hong Kong
China’s shredding of Hong Kong’s autonomy is reaching new levels of nastiness. This week authorities forced the closure of the online publication Stand News and levied new charges against Apple Daily executives.
On Wednesday authorities arrested seven people linked to Stand News for “conspiracy to publish seditious publication,” according to the Hong Kong police. They include top editor Patrick Lam, as well as pop singing star Denise Ho and former lawmaker Margaret Ng, both former board members.
Source: WSJ #Dec29
https://t.co/9mOjcm4QiT
#AppleDaily #StandNews #China #HongKong
China’s shredding of Hong Kong’s autonomy is reaching new levels of nastiness. This week authorities forced the closure of the online publication Stand News and levied new charges against Apple Daily executives.
On Wednesday authorities arrested seven people linked to Stand News for “conspiracy to publish seditious publication,” according to the Hong Kong police. They include top editor Patrick Lam, as well as pop singing star Denise Ho and former lawmaker Margaret Ng, both former board members.
Source: WSJ #Dec29
https://t.co/9mOjcm4QiT
#AppleDaily #StandNews #China #HongKong
Who is John Lee?: Sole Candidate in Hong Kong's #ChiefExecutive Election
//Hong Kong’s former chief secretary #JohnLee has officially thrown his hat into the ring for next month’s leadership race after he submitted 786 nominations on Wednesday, April 15, 2022. The 64-year-old is the sole hopeful in the small-circle election scheduled for May 8, 2022. Lee is on track to be elected as the next chief executive by the 1,462 Election Committee members he vetted last year.
Lee’s appointment by 0.02 per cent of the population will mark the first time a former police officer assumes leadership of the city. Known for his hardline approach since he took the helm of the Security Bureau in September 2017, Lee’s tenure saw the 2019 protests and the subsequent enactment of the Beijing-imposed national security law.
He gained an unprecedented promotion last June to the second-highest role in the administration, where he was entrusted to chair a powerful committee to ensure election candidates were Chinese patriots.
In response to accusations that frontline police had failed to display their warrant cards, making it difficult for people to file complaints against the force, Lee said on June 19, 2010, "The design of the uniform leaves no space for displaying the police officer’s number.”
...Lee at the time called on journalists to distance themselves from “evil elements” who “damaged press freedom.”
On June 17, 2021, Lee condemned journalists from #AppleDaily and #StandNews:
"Ordinary journalists are different from them… [for] anyone who tries to use journalistic work as a shield to engage in crimes endangering national security, the SAR government must use the strictest measures to clamp down [on them]. “//
Read more:
https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/18/who-is-john-lee-12-quotes-from-hong-kongs-unopposed-leadership-hopeful/
Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Apr18
#Regime #SmallCircleElection #ChiefExecutiveElection #NationalSecurityLaw
//Hong Kong’s former chief secretary #JohnLee has officially thrown his hat into the ring for next month’s leadership race after he submitted 786 nominations on Wednesday, April 15, 2022. The 64-year-old is the sole hopeful in the small-circle election scheduled for May 8, 2022. Lee is on track to be elected as the next chief executive by the 1,462 Election Committee members he vetted last year.
Lee’s appointment by 0.02 per cent of the population will mark the first time a former police officer assumes leadership of the city. Known for his hardline approach since he took the helm of the Security Bureau in September 2017, Lee’s tenure saw the 2019 protests and the subsequent enactment of the Beijing-imposed national security law.
He gained an unprecedented promotion last June to the second-highest role in the administration, where he was entrusted to chair a powerful committee to ensure election candidates were Chinese patriots.
In response to accusations that frontline police had failed to display their warrant cards, making it difficult for people to file complaints against the force, Lee said on June 19, 2010, "The design of the uniform leaves no space for displaying the police officer’s number.”
...Lee at the time called on journalists to distance themselves from “evil elements” who “damaged press freedom.”
On June 17, 2021, Lee condemned journalists from #AppleDaily and #StandNews:
"Ordinary journalists are different from them… [for] anyone who tries to use journalistic work as a shield to engage in crimes endangering national security, the SAR government must use the strictest measures to clamp down [on them]. “//
Read more:
https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/18/who-is-john-lee-12-quotes-from-hong-kongs-unopposed-leadership-hopeful/
Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Apr18
#Regime #SmallCircleElection #ChiefExecutiveElection #NationalSecurityLaw
Hong Kong Free Press HKFP
Who is John Lee? 12 quotes from Hong Kong’s unopposed leadership hopeful
Hong Kong’s former chief secretary John Lee has officially thrown his hat into the ring for next month’s leadership race after he submitted 786 nominations on Wednesday. The 64-year-old…
#HumanRights #WhiteTerror
Hong Kong’s Human Rights Press Awards cancelled, citing legal risks
Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club (#FCC) has cancelled this year’s Human Rights Press Awards, citing “significant areas of uncertainty” under the law.
In a statement emailed to members on Monday, club president Keith Richburg said the FCC board met on Saturday and “after a lengthy discussion, regretfully decided to suspend the Human Rights Press Awards pending further review.”
The winners of the Human Rights Press Awards were expected to be announced on May 3, which is also World Press Freedom Day.
“Over the last two years, journalists in Hong Kong have been operating under new ‘red lines’ on what is and is not permissible, but there remain significant areas of uncertainty and we do not wish unintentionally to violate the law,” Richburg wrote. “This is the context in which we decided to suspend the Awards.”
“I know this is an unusual step to take so late in the process, just weeks before we were set to announce the winners,” he added.
According to FCC's website, “The Human Rights Press Awards recognise top rights-related reporting from around Asia, with the goal of increasing respect for people’s basic rights and focusing attention on threats to those freedoms.”
Since the onset of Hong Kong’s national security law in 2020, two of the city’s newsrooms have been raided and their top editors arrested, as press freedom NGOs have sounded the alarm. #AppleDaily, #StandNews and #CitizenNews are among the outlets that have shuttered.
Full article:
https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/25/breaking-hong-kongs-human-rights-press-awards-cancelled/
Source: Hong Kong Free Press
#PressFreedom #HumanRights #WhiteTerror
Hong Kong’s Human Rights Press Awards cancelled, citing legal risks
Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club (#FCC) has cancelled this year’s Human Rights Press Awards, citing “significant areas of uncertainty” under the law.
In a statement emailed to members on Monday, club president Keith Richburg said the FCC board met on Saturday and “after a lengthy discussion, regretfully decided to suspend the Human Rights Press Awards pending further review.”
The winners of the Human Rights Press Awards were expected to be announced on May 3, which is also World Press Freedom Day.
“Over the last two years, journalists in Hong Kong have been operating under new ‘red lines’ on what is and is not permissible, but there remain significant areas of uncertainty and we do not wish unintentionally to violate the law,” Richburg wrote. “This is the context in which we decided to suspend the Awards.”
“I know this is an unusual step to take so late in the process, just weeks before we were set to announce the winners,” he added.
According to FCC's website, “The Human Rights Press Awards recognise top rights-related reporting from around Asia, with the goal of increasing respect for people’s basic rights and focusing attention on threats to those freedoms.”
Since the onset of Hong Kong’s national security law in 2020, two of the city’s newsrooms have been raided and their top editors arrested, as press freedom NGOs have sounded the alarm. #AppleDaily, #StandNews and #CitizenNews are among the outlets that have shuttered.
Full article:
https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/25/breaking-hong-kongs-human-rights-press-awards-cancelled/
Source: Hong Kong Free Press
#PressFreedom #HumanRights #WhiteTerror
Hong Kong Free Press HKFP
Hong Kong’s Human Rights Press Awards cancelled, citing legal risks
Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) has cancelled this year’s Human Rights Press Awards, citing “significant areas of uncertainty” under the law. Human Righ…
#PressFreedom
Hong Kong Drops to the 148th Ranking out of 180 in 2021 World Press Index
The Reporter Without Borders (#RSF) announced the latest World Press Index on May 3, 2022. The ranking of Hong Kong drops from the 80th to the 148th place, hitting the city's lowest record and claiming the largest drop among all 180 territories included in the survey.
RSF in their report called Hong Kong "once a bastion of press freedom" which "has seen an unprecedented setback since 2020 when Beijing adopted a National Security Law aimed at silencing independent voices."
Regarding the media landscape, RSF pointed out that "since the 1997 handover to China, most media have fallen under the control of the government or pro-China groups. In 2021, two major independent news outlets, #AppleDaily and #StandNews, were forcefully shut down while numerous smaller-scale media outlets ceased operations, citing legal risks."
RSF also detailsd how the Hong Kong SAR government "froze the assets of Apple Daily and Stand News, forcing them to cease operations and causing the unemployment of 860 of their staff."
The National Security Law is also a cause to the massive drop in Hong Kong's ranking in the World Press Index. According to RSF, the law is "a pretext to gag independent voices in the name of the fight against “terrorism”, “secession”, “subversion”, and “collusion with foreign forces”. Due to its ambiguous phrasing, the law looks like it could apply to any journalist covering Hong Kong, regardless of their location."
Source: RSF; Mingpao #May3
https://bit.ly/3FebcSL
https://rsf.org/en/country/hong-kong
Hong Kong Drops to the 148th Ranking out of 180 in 2021 World Press Index
The Reporter Without Borders (#RSF) announced the latest World Press Index on May 3, 2022. The ranking of Hong Kong drops from the 80th to the 148th place, hitting the city's lowest record and claiming the largest drop among all 180 territories included in the survey.
RSF in their report called Hong Kong "once a bastion of press freedom" which "has seen an unprecedented setback since 2020 when Beijing adopted a National Security Law aimed at silencing independent voices."
Regarding the media landscape, RSF pointed out that "since the 1997 handover to China, most media have fallen under the control of the government or pro-China groups. In 2021, two major independent news outlets, #AppleDaily and #StandNews, were forcefully shut down while numerous smaller-scale media outlets ceased operations, citing legal risks."
RSF also detailsd how the Hong Kong SAR government "froze the assets of Apple Daily and Stand News, forcing them to cease operations and causing the unemployment of 860 of their staff."
The National Security Law is also a cause to the massive drop in Hong Kong's ranking in the World Press Index. According to RSF, the law is "a pretext to gag independent voices in the name of the fight against “terrorism”, “secession”, “subversion”, and “collusion with foreign forces”. Due to its ambiguous phrasing, the law looks like it could apply to any journalist covering Hong Kong, regardless of their location."
Source: RSF; Mingpao #May3
https://bit.ly/3FebcSL
https://rsf.org/en/country/hong-kong
#PressFreedom #Solidarity
Hongkongers Rebuild Article Archives of Apple Daily and Stand News
Since the shutdown of #AppleDaily and #StandNews last year, a group of Hong Kong netizens had been hard at work building a platform to preserve their articles, so that they may once again see the light of day.
The article archives are now viewable online: https://collection.news/
The two Hong Kong news media companies, particularly Apple Daily with its 26-year history, had produced well over 2 million articles. Over a 10-month period, the Collection.News team rebuilt the archives of 2,375,868 text articles and 3,046,000 photos, and hosted them online using their own funds.
The archive's development team describes themselves as a group of Hongkongers who wish to preserve the city's history. They declare no affiliations with any news media groups. As the threat of National Security Law continues to loom over the city, the team found it necessary to operate anonymously, and does not accept donations. They had made their software open source, so that in case their website was shut down due to unforeseen circumstances, there would still be hope that the archives could be rebuilt once again.
The website's Chinese name 果靈 ("Spirit of Fruits") draws inspiration from the writings of 20th century philosopher Tang Chun-i. The team wishes to remind #Hongkongers that "we are not flowers and fruits that had lost our roots. Our spirit can take root everywhere, and ought to sprout in every heart."
"Though Apple Daily had died, we wish for everyone to own a little Apple seedling," they wrote on their website.
Source: Luminant HK, Collection.News
https://www.facebook.com/luminanthk/posts/522014396224956
#Memory #PreservingHistory
Hongkongers Rebuild Article Archives of Apple Daily and Stand News
Since the shutdown of #AppleDaily and #StandNews last year, a group of Hong Kong netizens had been hard at work building a platform to preserve their articles, so that they may once again see the light of day.
The article archives are now viewable online: https://collection.news/
The two Hong Kong news media companies, particularly Apple Daily with its 26-year history, had produced well over 2 million articles. Over a 10-month period, the Collection.News team rebuilt the archives of 2,375,868 text articles and 3,046,000 photos, and hosted them online using their own funds.
The archive's development team describes themselves as a group of Hongkongers who wish to preserve the city's history. They declare no affiliations with any news media groups. As the threat of National Security Law continues to loom over the city, the team found it necessary to operate anonymously, and does not accept donations. They had made their software open source, so that in case their website was shut down due to unforeseen circumstances, there would still be hope that the archives could be rebuilt once again.
The website's Chinese name 果靈 ("Spirit of Fruits") draws inspiration from the writings of 20th century philosopher Tang Chun-i. The team wishes to remind #Hongkongers that "we are not flowers and fruits that had lost our roots. Our spirit can take root everywhere, and ought to sprout in every heart."
"Though Apple Daily had died, we wish for everyone to own a little Apple seedling," they wrote on their website.
Source: Luminant HK, Collection.News
https://www.facebook.com/luminanthk/posts/522014396224956
#Memory #PreservingHistory
聞庫
《蘋果日報》/《立場新聞》文章存檔
One More News Outlet Closes Down in Hong Kong
#FactWire is an independent investigative news agency founded in Hong Kong in 2015, with the support of 3,300 Hong Kongers through crowd-funding.
For the past six years, FactWire has published a number of in-depth news reports, covering a wide range of topics from the safety issues at Taishan Nuclear Plant in China, the 2019 Anti Extradition protests, to the latest Chief Executive election in Hong Kong.
However, under the current political environment of Hong Kong, FactWire announced its closure on June 10, 2022. Despite the support of the public and their subscribers, the independent news agency made the decision to cease operation and dismiss all its employees.
In a statement published on their website, they wrote:
"In recent years, the media has contended with great change. Despite having wrestled many times with the difficult decision as to whether to continue our journalistic work, we had always come to the same affirmative conclusion: to stand fast to our core values and beliefs, and to always report the facts."
The news agency reiterated that "It is our honour to have been witnesses to, and scribes of Hong Kong’s history with you", and asked Hongkongers to "take care".
Read the statement:
https://www.factwire.org/en/termination-of-operation/
Source: Factwire; InMedia #June10
https://bit.ly/3ts2cF5
#FreedomOfSpeech #PressFreedom #AppleDaily #StandNews #CitizenNews
#FactWire is an independent investigative news agency founded in Hong Kong in 2015, with the support of 3,300 Hong Kongers through crowd-funding.
For the past six years, FactWire has published a number of in-depth news reports, covering a wide range of topics from the safety issues at Taishan Nuclear Plant in China, the 2019 Anti Extradition protests, to the latest Chief Executive election in Hong Kong.
However, under the current political environment of Hong Kong, FactWire announced its closure on June 10, 2022. Despite the support of the public and their subscribers, the independent news agency made the decision to cease operation and dismiss all its employees.
In a statement published on their website, they wrote:
"In recent years, the media has contended with great change. Despite having wrestled many times with the difficult decision as to whether to continue our journalistic work, we had always come to the same affirmative conclusion: to stand fast to our core values and beliefs, and to always report the facts."
The news agency reiterated that "It is our honour to have been witnesses to, and scribes of Hong Kong’s history with you", and asked Hongkongers to "take care".
Read the statement:
https://www.factwire.org/en/termination-of-operation/
Source: Factwire; InMedia #June10
https://bit.ly/3ts2cF5
#FreedomOfSpeech #PressFreedom #AppleDaily #StandNews #CitizenNews
FactWire News Agency 傳真社
Termination of Operation - FactWire News Agency 傳真社
It is time for us to bid you farewell. Founded in 2015 with the support of a history-making 3,300 Hong Kongers, the establishment of the FactWire News Agency was a remarkable feat, and a dream come true. For the past six years, we have done our best to keep…
#today2yearsago
Two Year-mark of #NationalSecurityLaw and 25th Anniversary of the #TransferOfSovereignty: 126 People Charged, 83 in Detention and 63 Involved in Literary Inquisition
Two years ago on July 1, 2020, the National Security Law imposed by Beijing without passing through Hong Kong's legislature was enforced in the city. Authorties in Hong Kong and China claimed that the criminalisation of speech would not happen and the law would "only affect a small number of people". They also claimed that the rights and freedom of Hong Kong people will not be affected.
As of June 29, 2022, however, at least 198 people have been arrested for "violating national security" in the past two years. Among them 126 people and 5 companies — including #AppleDaily, #StandNews and the #Alliance — were prosecuted. 83 of them have been taken into custody and more than half have been detained for more than one year. The longest period of detention is 660 days and is still counting.
Among these cases, almost the entire pro-democracy camp has been "locked up" due to the primary election. Pro-democracy and independent news outlet like Apple Daily and Stand News were shut down; meanwhile, court procedures are progressing very slowly.
This marks the 25 years since the #1997TransferOfSovereignty of Hong Kong to China.
Source: InMedia #Jun30
https://bit.ly/3HZ9Vk9
[Editor’s Note: Compared to the commonly used term “handover”, the term “Transfer of Sovereignty of Hong Kong to China” conveys aptly the complexity of multi-sided perspectives that is the “handover”, and shows as much neutrality regarding the issue at the whole. Feel free to check out BBC Chinese’s article:
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese-news-40441492 ]
#WhiteTerror #SpeechCrime #NSL #Authoritarianism #PoliceState
Two Year-mark of #NationalSecurityLaw and 25th Anniversary of the #TransferOfSovereignty: 126 People Charged, 83 in Detention and 63 Involved in Literary Inquisition
Two years ago on July 1, 2020, the National Security Law imposed by Beijing without passing through Hong Kong's legislature was enforced in the city. Authorties in Hong Kong and China claimed that the criminalisation of speech would not happen and the law would "only affect a small number of people". They also claimed that the rights and freedom of Hong Kong people will not be affected.
As of June 29, 2022, however, at least 198 people have been arrested for "violating national security" in the past two years. Among them 126 people and 5 companies — including #AppleDaily, #StandNews and the #Alliance — were prosecuted. 83 of them have been taken into custody and more than half have been detained for more than one year. The longest period of detention is 660 days and is still counting.
Among these cases, almost the entire pro-democracy camp has been "locked up" due to the primary election. Pro-democracy and independent news outlet like Apple Daily and Stand News were shut down; meanwhile, court procedures are progressing very slowly.
This marks the 25 years since the #1997TransferOfSovereignty of Hong Kong to China.
Source: InMedia #Jun30
https://bit.ly/3HZ9Vk9
[Editor’s Note: Compared to the commonly used term “handover”, the term “Transfer of Sovereignty of Hong Kong to China” conveys aptly the complexity of multi-sided perspectives that is the “handover”, and shows as much neutrality regarding the issue at the whole. Feel free to check out BBC Chinese’s article:
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese-news-40441492 ]
#WhiteTerror #SpeechCrime #NSL #Authoritarianism #PoliceState
BBC News 中文
香港主權移交20週年：為什麼BBC中文網不說「回歸」？
香港特區成立源於主權移交，那為何不說「香港回歸」？澳門又為什麼不是「主權移交」？
British lawyers defending Hong Kong pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai say they have received threats
//Barristers from a British law firm who are representing jailed Hong Kong tycoon and democracy campaigner #JimmyLai said on July 7, 2022 they had received anonymous e-mails warning them against travelling to the city to defend him.
Lai is among the most prominent people in Hong Kong to be charged under a #National SecurityLaw that Beijing imposed in June 2020 to punish terrorism, collusion with foreign forces, subversion and secession with possible life imprisonment.
The barristers - Caoilfhionn Gallagher, Jonathan Price and Jennifer Robinson from Doughty Street Chambers - told Reuters the messages came from a generic Gmail address.
"A person that refuses to abide by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region could be extradited...from other jurisdictions. Foreign nationals will be charged with the offences of subversion," one of the e-mails said. "You have been warned not to attempt entry or land in Chinese territory."
The barristers declined to say if they would be travelling to Hong Kong for the trial.
"Threatening journalists, campaigners and lawyers within Hong Kong has been happening for some time," the barristers said in an e-mail.
"Now these intimidatory tactics are spreading outside the borders of China and Hong Kong."
Police said in a statement they were concerned about the media reports and "strongly condemn the act of impersonating police officers". They appealed to those concerned to provide further information.
The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the barristers would be allowed to enter Hong Kong.
Baroness Helena Kennedy, Director of the International Bar Association's Institute of Fundamental Rights, condemned what she said was an act of intimidation.
"Intimidating the lawyers who act for citizens pursuing freedom and democracy is the tactic of an authoritarian regime," she said.
"Jimmy Lai's right to instruct international lawyers of his choice is fundamental to a fair trial. The Hong Kong authorities seem to have abandoned the values which underpin the rule of law."//
Source: Reuters #Jul7
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/british-lawyers-defending-hong-kong-tycoon-say-they-receive-threats-2022-07-07/
#PoliceState #CCP #Intimidation #FairTrial #Lawyer #Court #AppleDaily #NextMedia
//Barristers from a British law firm who are representing jailed Hong Kong tycoon and democracy campaigner #JimmyLai said on July 7, 2022 they had received anonymous e-mails warning them against travelling to the city to defend him.
Lai is among the most prominent people in Hong Kong to be charged under a #National SecurityLaw that Beijing imposed in June 2020 to punish terrorism, collusion with foreign forces, subversion and secession with possible life imprisonment.
The barristers - Caoilfhionn Gallagher, Jonathan Price and Jennifer Robinson from Doughty Street Chambers - told Reuters the messages came from a generic Gmail address.
"A person that refuses to abide by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region could be extradited...from other jurisdictions. Foreign nationals will be charged with the offences of subversion," one of the e-mails said. "You have been warned not to attempt entry or land in Chinese territory."
The barristers declined to say if they would be travelling to Hong Kong for the trial.
"Threatening journalists, campaigners and lawyers within Hong Kong has been happening for some time," the barristers said in an e-mail.
"Now these intimidatory tactics are spreading outside the borders of China and Hong Kong."
Police said in a statement they were concerned about the media reports and "strongly condemn the act of impersonating police officers". They appealed to those concerned to provide further information.
The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the barristers would be allowed to enter Hong Kong.
Baroness Helena Kennedy, Director of the International Bar Association's Institute of Fundamental Rights, condemned what she said was an act of intimidation.
"Intimidating the lawyers who act for citizens pursuing freedom and democracy is the tactic of an authoritarian regime," she said.
"Jimmy Lai's right to instruct international lawyers of his choice is fundamental to a fair trial. The Hong Kong authorities seem to have abandoned the values which underpin the rule of law."//
Source: Reuters #Jul7
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/british-lawyers-defending-hong-kong-tycoon-say-they-receive-threats-2022-07-07/
#PoliceState #CCP #Intimidation #FairTrial #Lawyer #Court #AppleDaily #NextMedia
Reuters
Lawyers defending Hong Kong tycoon say they have received threats
Barristers from a British law firm who are representing jailed Hong Kong tycoon and democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai said on Thursday they had received anonymous e-mails warning them against travelling to the city to defend him.