TOP NEWS
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would raise Jimmy Lai’s case as part of upcoming negotiations with Chinese officials this weekend. “Talking about Jimmy Lai is a very good idea,” Trump told Hugh Hewitt in a radio interview. “We’ll put it down as part of the negotiation.”
Hong Kong police have arrested and charged the father of bountied Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC) activist Anna Kwok, 28, under the 2024 Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, commonly known as Article 23, alleging that he handled the financial assets of an “absconder” because he assisted with her life insurance policy.
Kwok Yin-sang, who is the first family member of a wanted activist in exile to be charged under Article 23, remains in detention and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted. He was denied bail pending a June 13 court appearance on “national security grounds.”
In response, the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation and 86 other diaspora and international rights groups signed joint letters in solidarity with the Kwok family calling for the U.S. and other governments to urgently respond with measures that protect friends and families of overseas activists from reprisals by Hong Kong authorities.
Earlier in the week, police detained the elderly aunt and uncle of Kwok’s HKDC colleague Carmen Lau within 48 hours of her attending a protest against China’s planned super embassy in London.
North America – Hong Kong
Hong Kong police on Thursday questioned a cousin and his wife of Canada-based bountied activist and former parliamentary candidate Joe Tay in connection with a national security investigation. The CFHK Foundation reiterated our call for Canadian parliamentarians to enact sanctions on the Hong Kong officials responsible for human rights abuses in Hong Kong and transnational repression.
For World Press Freedom Day, Sebastien Lai shared his father’s story with Fox News, appealing to all who share Jimmy Lai’s values in terms of speaking truth to power to join the fight for his release.
Hong Kong
CFHK Foundation launched a social media campaign to mark World Press Freedom Day, calling for the immediate release of the 10 journalists currently imprisoned in Hong Kong simply for doing their jobs.
Chief Magistrate Victor So sentenced Li Chun-kit, a bus conductor, to one year in jail under Article 23 for posting seditious material online.
UK – Hong Kong
CFHK Foundation and Labour Friends of Hong Kong held a panel discussion in the UK Parliament, hosted by Neil Coyle MP and featuring CFHK President Mark Clifford, Redress Advocacy Officer Olivia Dehnavi, and Hong Kong activists Hau Ying Wu and Hong Kiu Choi, on the plight of political prisoners like Jimmy Lai.
(From left to right) Marie Rimmer MP, Chloe Cheung, Mark Clifford, and Neil Coyle MP gather in a Houses of Parliament committee room after the event.
Jimmy Lai Biography, ‘Troublemaker’ Updates
“Taiwan Take” producer Emily Y. Wu interviewed Mark Clifford about “The Troublemaker,” featuring a video call he hosted involving Jimmy Lai and Natan Sharansky, a fellow political prisoner who authored the book’s foreword.
🔥Flame of Freedom Blog
Hong Kong, China, and the Shared Struggle for Free Information
This blog is authored by Nina Cheung, Director of Hong Kong Media Overseas.
“Having seen the situation deteriorate in Hong Kong, I am now a diaspora journalist pursuing my career overseas, and a member of Hong Kong Media Overseas (HKMO) (香港海外傳媒協會) — the UK-based advocacy organisation for Hong Kong press freedom founded two years ago by journalists who have left Hong Kong. This affiliation has afforded me valuable opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals in Circle 19, an advocacy group dedicated to promoting the free flow of information within the PRC and Hong Kong.
Circle 19 is a network of Chinese diaspora and international organisations aiming to preserve the people of China and Hong Kong’s historical right to freedom of information, even if that record — the keeping of which is essential for the future of the PRC — must for now be preserved in exile. It takes its name from Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which enshrines the right to freedom of opinion and expression…”
Read more here.