Publishers demand release of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai

Publishers and editors from across the world have called for the immediate release of Hong Kong media tycoon and press freedom activist Jimmy Lai and condemned the city’s ongoing crackdown on the media.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, 113 high profile figures from the publishing world joined international non-profit Reporters Without Borders in demanding all charges against Mr Lai and 28 other Hong Kong journalists be dropped.

“We ... are united in support of Apple Daily founder and publisher Jimmy Lai, and his fight for media pluralism and press freedom in Hong Kong,” said the statement, referring to the pro-democracy newspaper that was raided by the police in 2020 and forced under heavy political pressure to close.

“Jimmy Lai has stood for these values his entire life, and founded Apple Daily to ensure that the people of Hong Kong had access to vital independent information,” it continued.

“In a tremendous act of courage, he chose to stay in Hong Kong and continued to publish as long as he could, despite the severe crackdown taking place around him.”

Mr Lai, 75, has long been on the radar of the Chinese Communist Party for his outspoken views on fundamental rights, and is among the most prominent of the so-called “Hong Kong 47” pro-democracy activists currently on trial for subversion under the city’s national security law.

The sweeping legislation was suddenly imposed in 2020 in what was widely viewed as a move to silence dissent following mass anti-government protests in 2019.

It criminalises vaguely defined acts of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces, all of which are punishable by life in prison.

Mr Lai has also served time for taking part in a banned vigil for victims of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, and was jailed last year for almost six years for fraud, in a case his supporters reject as politically-motivated.

The publishers’ statement, which was signed by the editors of the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail, the Times and The Guardian, accuses the authorities of targeting Mr Lai for his independent reporting.

“It is our turn to stand up for Jimmy Lai, whose detention serves only to damage the reputation of the authorities in both China and Hong Kong. The arbitrary charges against him are clear violations of Chinese, Hong Kong, and international law,” it said.

It also calls for the reinstatement of all of Hong Kong’s press outlets that have been pressured to stop publishing as Beijing tightens its grip on the city’s once vibrant and irreverent media scene.

“In targeting this 75-year-old press freedom emblem, the Chinese regime has taken its attempts to control information beyond its borders, and made it a concern for the entire world. When press freedom is threatened anywhere, it is threatened everywhere,” said the statement.

Among the signatories to the statement are the Nobel Peace prize laureates Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and Maria Ressa, editor of the Philippines news website the Rappler, whose reporting has seen her face a litany of legal charges.

Sebastien Lai, the son of Jimmy Lai, said: "Hong Kong is now a city shrouded in a blanket of fear ... My father has been in prison since 2020 because he spoke out against CCP power. Because he stood up for what he believes in. It is deeply moving to now see so many powerful voices - Nobel prize winners, and many of the leading newspapers and media organisations across the world - speak out for him."