TOP NEWS
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hosted an event at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday marking four years since Apply Daily founder Jimmy Lai’s arrest in Hong Kong.
The event titled, “Honoring Jimmy Lai: A Stand for Democracy and Free Speech in Hong Kong”, convened Lai’s son, Sebastien, Senator Jim Risch, Senator Jeff Merkley, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Representative Chris Smith, Representative Jim McGovern, Representative Young Kim, and other Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigners, who spoke of Lai’s activism and called for the Hong Kong authorities to immediately and unconditionally release him and all political prisoners.
Mark Clifford, President of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation and former member of the board of directors of Next Digital, moderated the event. He began his speech by reading from the Basic Law: “Hong Kong residents shall have freedom of speech, of the press and of publication; freedom of association, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration”, and said the event served as a reminder of how Hong Kong has dismantled these fundamental rights.
Watch the full event here.
Jimmy Lai’s ongoing arbitrary detention in solitary confinement in Hong Kong was raised during the 57th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, at the interactive dialogue with the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Dr Tatyana Eatwell from Jimmy Lai’s international legal team, said: “We urge the Working Group and the Council to raise Mr Lai’s case along with the cases of all those who are being unlawfully and arbitrarily detained in Hong Kong for exercising their internationally protected rights, and to call for their immediate and unconditional release.”
Hong Kong
A man was sentenced to 1 year and 2 months in prison under Hong Kong's new national security law, Article 23, for wearing a "seditious" T-shirt. Chu Kai-pong, 27, is the first person to be convicted under this law. He pled guilty this week to carrying out an "act with seditious intent" by wearing a T-shirt bearing a protest slogan.
Hong Kong's Chief Executive, John Lee, slammed the recent passing of the HKETO bill in the U.S. House last week. Lee condemned the bill, calling it "shameless and ugly" and a means to "suppress” the development of Hong Kong and mainland China.
U.S. - Hong Kong
This week, Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced the Transnational Repression Reporting Act of 2024 which would require the Attorney General, in coordination with other relevant federal agencies, to submit a report of cases of transnational repression against U.S. citizens or people in the United States. The CFHK Foundation fully support and endorse this legislation and will seek to apply it in cases of transnational repression against Hong Kongers in the U.S..
Congressman Schiff said “My bill will require a comprehensive report on cases of foreign governments targeting individuals here at home and American citizens abroad. I will continue to work with my colleagues to safeguard fundamental rights and freedoms, both domestically and around the world.”
Mark Clifford, President of the CFHK Foundation and former member of the board of directors of Next Digital, which published the Apple Daily newspaper in Hong Kong, was quoted in a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal where he said, “Jimmy Lai’s story is Hong Kong’s story, and his fate is Hong Kong’s fate. Jimmy snuck into Hong Kong when he was a penniless, 12-year-old boy. Like so many in Hong Kong, he came to escape hunger and found freedom. And when he became wealthy, he made it his life’s work to defend those freedoms.” Clifford is the author of “The Troublemaker,” his forthcoming biography of Mr. Lai.
U.S. authorities have arrested a Russian citizen, Denis Postovoy, on suspicion of smuggling parts for the production of drones, which are being used in the ongoing war in Ukraine. Postovoy allegedly purchased the goods via a web of companies that he owns or operates in Russia, Hong Kong, and other cities, and then shipped them to Russia via Hong Kong and other intermediary destinations. The CFHK Foundation’s report, Beneath the Harbor, details Hong Kong’s growing role as a center of illicit finance and transshipments to sanctioned regimes.
UK - Hong Kong
UK Labour Party veteran and close advisor to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Lord Peter Mandelson, has called for a thaw in relations with China after criticising the former Conservative government for failing to sustain “proper channels of communication.” The CFHK Foundation is deeply concerned about these statements and calls on the Labour Government to maintain a strong stance in dealing with China over national security and human rights concerns.
In a strong rebuke to Lord Mandelson and his comments on UK relations with Hong Kong and China, Benedict Rogers, Founder of Hong Kong Watch wrote a scathing response in which he said, “Human rights in China and Hong Kong is not – and should not be – a party political matter. Lord Mandelson trying to weaponise this issue as a stick with which to beat the Conservatives and a wedge to drive between the parties is wicked. His analysis of and partisanship in matters of China policy profoundly discredit him and endanger our national interest and values.”
At this year’s PEN International Congress, held in Oxford, UK, Jimmy Lai was honoured with an “Empty Chair”, symbolising the call for his immediate release. PEN International’s 90th Congress, themed “Writers in a World at War,” gathered delegates from over 90 countries against a background of global crisis and literature's role “across frontiers”.
🔥Flame of Freedom Blog
Symposium in Washington DC: Searching for Solutions to Stop the Intensifying Repression in Hong Kong
This blog is authored by Jon Stivers, Shannon Van Sant & Frances Hui of CFHK Foundation.
“The 2024 symposium set the stage for the CFHK Foundation’s goals going forward. We will not rest until the Hong Kong people are able to enjoy the freedoms that they deserve.”
Read more here.
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