China-Hong Kong: Jimmy Lai’s International Legal Team addresses Human Rights Council on behalf of PEN International
13 March 2024: During the 55th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Jennifer Robinson, a member of Jimmy Lai’s international legal team, raised concerns regarding the use of national security legislation to target individuals for exercising their right to freedom of expression, including Jimmy Lai.
Speaking on behalf of PEN International during the Interactive Dialogue session on 12 March with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights, Ben Saul, Jennifer Robinson highlighted the use of the deeply problematic National Security Law (NSL) and sedition laws to target authors, journalists, activists and students for their peaceful expression.
A full transcript of the oral statement can be found below:
Mr President, thank you for the opportunity to address the Council on behalf of International PEN.
We welcome the Special Rapporteur and congratulate him on his appointment.
In recent years, Hong Kong has abused criminal laws to target and imprison pro-democracy campaigner and journalists. This has included the abuse of the draconian National Security Law.
Broadly defined offences of “subversion” and “collusion with foreign forces” incur maximum penalties of life imprisonment. When the law was imposed by Beijing in 2020, UN experts warned that the law would lead to “arbitrary interpretation and enforcement” and would undermine human rights.
And they were right.
The NSL and sedition laws are being abused to imprison students for liking social media posts, to convict children’s book authors – and to prosecute journalists and pro-democracy campaigners. Among them is 76 year old Jimmy Lai, a renowned campaigner, writer and founder of the newspaper Apple Daily.
My name is Jennifer Robinson and I am a member of his international legal team.
Mr Lai is currently on trial under the NSL and sedition laws. Every day in the trial we see new, ludicrous allegations, which make clear that – in truth – Jimmy Lai is accused of conspiracy to commit journalism. He is also being accused of colluding with foreign forces for raising concern about human rights abuse with international organisations and foreign parliamentarians.
These are not crimes. They are actions protected under international law.
International PEN calls on China and Hong Kong to repeal the NSL and drop all charges against Mr Lai, and all those arbitrarily detained for their peaceful expression.
Mr Special Rapporteur, how will you use your mandate to address this important case?
In his closing remarks, Ben Saul raised his concern about the legality of the National Security Law and its impact on internationally protected rights. He also referenced a previous communication on Hong Kong where he was among several independent experts of the United Nations to call for Jimmy Lai’s immediate release, noting that ‘Jimmy Lai’s arrest, detention and series of criminal proceedings over the past few years appear to be directly related to his criticism of the Chinese Government and his support for democracy in Hong Kong SAR’.
A second statement by Jimmy Lai’s international legal team was submitted on behalf of PEN International for the Interactive Dialogue session with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards. The statement raised concerns about the use of torture or ill-treatment against writers, journalists and others in China.
A transcript of the statement can be found below:
Mr President, we thank the Council for the opportunity to address the UNSR on behalf of International PEN about the use of torture in China.
PEN believes in everyone’s freedom to write and read, wherever they are in the world. Since it was founded in 1921, PEN has supported and campaigned on behalf of writers imprisoned and persecuted for their work, and it is a leading international expert group on freedom of expression.
China has a shameful history of targeting writers, journalists, media owners and human rights defenders, and subjecting prisoners to torture or ill-treatment, despite China having ratified the UN Convention against Torture in 1988. Family members and colleagues are pressurised to “confess” to crimes and implicate loved ones and co-workers. The use of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, and other coercive techniques, including the use of fixed restraint ‘tiger chairs’ have been well-documented.
The case of media owner and writer Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong is a chilling example of torture in mainland China tainting legal processes in Hong Kong, undermining the idea of ‘One Country, Two Systems.’ It is alleged that a key prosecution witness against Jimmy Lai was subjected to torture during his detention in the Shenzhen prison in mainland China; was coerced to “confess” to collusion with Jimmy Lai; and the witness is now in a psychiatric facility in Hong Kong. Special Rapporteur, we thank you for your work on this deeply concerning case.
International PEN calls on the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities to comply with their obligations under international law, cease all use of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, and never rely upon evidence procured through torture in their trials.
PEN International continues its call for Jimmy Lai’s immediate and unconditional release, along with all those wrongfully detained for their peaceful expression by the Hong Kong and PRC authorities. National security should never be used as a pretext to silence peaceful expression.
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Jimmy Lai is a veteran human rights activist, writer, and owner of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, which was once regarded as Hong Kong’s most prolific pro-democracy news outlet before it was forced to close by the authorities on 24 June 2021.
Lai has been continuously imprisoned since December 2020 following his initial detention in August 2020 on multiple charges for his journalism and activism. Jimmy Lai has already received four convictions of unauthorised assembly, and on 10 December 2022 Lai was sentenced to a total of five years and nine months’ imprisonment for violating the terms of a commercial lease.
On 18 December 2023, a new trial commenced on two charges under the NSL of ‘conspiracy to collude with foreign forces’, with the prosecution claiming that these ‘crimes’ were committed through his writings published by Apple Daily and by posts on his Twitter social media account. In addition to the NSL charges, Lai also faces a separate count of ‘conspiracy to produce seditious publications’ under Hong Kong’s colonial-era sedition law, with the prosecution citing 161 editions of Apple Daily from April 2019 until its closure as ‘examples of seditious publications[...] with a view to polluting the minds of the impressionable ones.’ Jimmy Lai has pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
Lai’s ongoing detention is emblematic of the NSL’s devastating impact on freedom of expression across Hong Kong and is illustrative of the authorities’ willingness to use the legal system to silence dissenting voices. The chilling effect caused by the NSL has resulted in a climate of self-censorship across the territory, with several independent media outlets having dissolved in an effort to protect their staff from potential prosecution under the law for their critical journalism.
Before Apple Daily was forced to close, Lai wrote a letter to his staff from prison, telling them that ‘freedom of speech is a dangerous job’ and that ‘it is time for us to stand tall with our heads held high’. He received a twelve-month sentence just days later.
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