The non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and hundreds of international media executives today called for the “immediate release” of Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai, who has been detained since 2020 in the Chinese metropolis.
A symbolic figure in the fight for press freedom and founder of Apple Daily, a newspaper critical of the Chinese government shut down in 2021, faces a “life sentence,” RSF, which filed an appeal, said in a statement. released in Paris.
The appeal was signed by editors from 42 countries, including Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov and Filipino Maria Ressa.
Outspoken Beijing critic Jimmy Lai is due to stand trial in September on charges of “collusion with foreign forces,” a violation of “draconian national security law” according to the France-Presse (AFP) news agency. Beijing after the 2019 pro-democracy protests, which carry a life sentence.
Lai is already serving several prison terms for participating in protests and allegations of fraud. According to RSF, bail requests have “always been routinely denied”.
“[Ao persegui-lo]The Chinese regime has extended its attempts to control information beyond its borders and made it a global concern,” said the signatories, including New York Times editor A. G. Sulzberger and Le Monde Jerome Fenoglio.
The lawsuits “are part of a larger crackdown,” added Reporters Without Borders, which expressed “deep concern about Hong Kong’s rapidly deteriorating press freedom climate.”
The signatories also call for the “immediate release of 13 journalists currently in custody”, the “dropping of charges” against “28 journalists targeted by the National Security Law, in particular over the past three years”, and the “immediate action” for reopening means media outlets such as Apple Daily and Stand News, which were the victims of an asset freeze and wave of arrests in 2021.
“Now Hong Kong is a city buried under a blanket of fear,” Jimmy’s son Lai Sebastian said in a statement.
According to the non-governmental organization, Hong Kong ranks 140th out of 180 countries analyzed in the RSF World Press Freedom Index 2023, down 122 positions “in just 20 years”.
On the other hand, China ranks penultimately in the RSF rankings (179th).
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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