Hong Kong Outlanders yesterday in Taipei called on Beijing to immediately release Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai (黎智英), as closing arguments in his trial continued.
The civic group, formed by Hong Kongers in Taiwan, held a street rally in Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping district in support of the pro-democracy advocate, who has been imprisoned for more than 1,700 days on charges of colluding with foreign forces, under Hong Kong’s National Security Law.
Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲), who was detained in China and sentenced to five years in prison for “subversion,” said Beijing had imposed Hong Kong’s National Security Law to ensure direct control over politically sensitive cases.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The law stipulates that any case deemed to endanger national security must be heard by judges designated by the chief executive of Hong Kong, he said.
Lai’s case concerns freedom of speech and was destined to receive disproportionate scrutiny and unfair treatment under the pretext of “national security,” he said, adding that while trial by jury is a longstanding legal tradition in Hong Kong, it has been barred in Lai’s case for that very reason.
Although Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeals in 2022 granted Lai the right to hire an overseas barrister, the government subsequently requested a legal interpretation from the National People’s Congress Standing Committee in Beijing, which overruled the court’s decision, Lee said.
Hong Kong’s fundamental judicial independence was “entirely obliterated” when an executive body was able to overturn a court ruling without being subject to judicial review, he said.
Lai has been kept in solitary confinement for more than 1,700 days, but the Hong Kong government said he was isolated “because he asked for it,” he added.
According to the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, or the Nelson Mandela Rules, solitary confinement should be used only in exceptional cases as a last resort, but prolonged solitary confinement lasting for more than 15 consecutive days amounts to cruel punishment and should be prohibited, he said.
Taiwan-Hong Kong Association director-general Sang Pu (桑普) said he knows Lai and had asked him where he would go if forced to leave Hong Kong.
“Taiwan,” Sang cited Lai as saying.
When Sang asked if he wished to leave with him, Lai said: “No. I am a captain, and a captain would not abandon his ship.”
Lai seeks to build a democratic China and a democratic Hong Kong, Sang said.
That would not affect his love and support for Taiwan, nor his opposition to Chinese Communist Party rule over Taiwan, he said.
Although Beijing considers Lai’s case a felony and may impose severe penalties, there remains a silver lining, Sang said, urging Taiwan and the international community to continue speaking out and pressing for Lai’s release.
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