PERUGIA, Italy—China has threatened the British-based lawyers of jailed journalist Jimmy Lai with prosecution, a leading human rights barrister has revealed.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher, KC said the move by Hong Kong authorities was part of a “deeply disturbing trend” of targeting the support networks of those persecuted by the Beijing regime.
The Irish-born lawyer—who works at London’s Doughty Street Chambers—said Lai’s son Sebastian had also received extra-territorial prosecution threats under China’s national security law.
Speaking at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy, Gallagher—a member of the Hong Kong jailed journalist’s legal team—said the “aggressive” tactics were an attempt to “shut down” criticism of the regime’s human rights abuses.
“We spoke addressing the United Nations in Geneva a number of weeks ago; Sebastian gave a powerful statement about the importance of human rights standards being applied and his father being freed,” the barrister said.
“And what we then got was a very aggressive statement from the authorities in Hong Kong, saying that Sebastian Lai, and the international legal team themselves, are committing offences.
“So by speaking out, Sebastian himself has been targeted, the international legal team has also been targeted.”
Transnational Targeting
Gallagher said the increase in “transnational extra-territorial” prosecution threats from Beijing had increased in the last 18 months.The human rights lawyer said that Beijing’s national security law was so “breathtakingly broad” that any form of dissent or criticism of authorities is “converted to a sedition or a terrorism offence”
“And it applies to anyone on the planet,” she added.
“You don’t need to have ever stepped foot in Hong Kong, you don’t need to have any connection to Hong Kong.
“You can be based in Perugia, you can be based in Washington, D.C., you can be based in London, and you can receive a threat from the authorities under the national security law.
“Because of you speaking out, because of you liking something on Facebook, because of you posting something, even speaking to the United Nations about breach of international human rights—that, they say is an offence.”
Last month, Sebastian Lai spoke alongside his father’s international legal team asking the U.N. to intervene in the Apple Daily founder’s ongoing detention in Hong Kong.
The businessman and journalist was first arrested in August 2020 for alleged collusion with foreign powers under the new national security law, as well as fraud.
He was again arrested by Hong Kong police in December 2020 and denied bail, before being eventually charged under the national security law with colluding with foreign powers.
Lai, a UK citizen who stayed in Hong Kong following the 1997 British handover, was the first high-profile figure to be charged under the new national security law.
He was arrested again while in prison on February 2021, allegedly for helping 12 fugitives in their failed attempt to escape Hong Kong for Taiwan.
If convicted on these charges, the 75-year-old faces life in prison.
In May 2021, Lai was sentenced to 14 months behind bars on top of the six months he had already served for his involvement in an “unauthorised assembly” on Oct. 1, 2019, during Hong Kong’s pro-democracy rallies.
On Dec. 9, 2021, Lai was convicted for “unauthorised assembly” for lighting a candle at a Tiananmen Square vigil in June the previous year.
He was sentenced to an additional 13 months in prison.
Hong Kong Attacks
Leung Chun-ying, a vice chairman of China’s top political advisory body, has made a number of prosecution threats towards Lai’s UK-based legal team.In a statement posted on his official Facebook page in January, the former Hong Kong chief executive called for his authorities to investigate Gallagher and her colleagues at Doughty Street Chambers.
He also urged Beijing loyalist supporters to make a complaint to the British Bar Association against the legal team.
Leung also threatened to increase charges against Lai over appointing the UK-based lawyers.
Lai’s son Sebastian, his international legal team, and Alistair Carmichael MP, co-chair of the All Parliamentary Party Group (APPG) on Hong Kong, are due to speak at the launch of a new report surrounding the journalist and publisher’s case.
It is set to make a number of recommendations to the UK government including treating the case of Jimmy Lai as a political priority and applying diplomatic pressure for his immediate release.
It will also suggest imposing targeted sanctions against the individuals responsible for Lai’s arrest and detention, curtailing media freedom, and oppression of the people of Hong Kong.
Speaking ahead of its launch, Carmichael said in a statement: “Freedom of speech and of media is a prerequisite of any democracy.
“Seldom has this been more apparent than in the brutal repression of the people of Hong Kong by the Chinese Communist Party.
“The case of Jimmy Lai, a British citizen, shows autocracy at its worst. The seizing of his private company, shutdown of his publications and imprisonment over trumped-up charges flies in the face of international law, and puts the regime in Beijing in ongoing breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong, to which China voluntarily committed.
“The UK Government may not have been completely silent, but there is far more that we can and must do to highlight the abuses of rights seen in Hong Kong.”
The APPG launched the inquiry in response to a sharp decline in media freedom in the territory, including the imprisonment of Lai.
