Hopefully, they can't imprison us all too!
Old habits can die hard. Often, when I pass by a newstand, I find myself looking at tthe copies of the South China Morning Post (and thinking "Wow, the newspaper looks so thin now compared to what I was used to seeing of it"). I also find myself looking for copies of Apple Daily and it still can be a jolt to remember that it is no more, and that its founder-owner, Jimmy Lai, is behind bars.
As it so happens, "Jimmy Lai marks his 1,000th day in Hong Kong’s Stanley Prison on Tuesday [i.e., today], an ignominious anniversary that should remind the world of Mr. Lai’s bravery and China’s disdain for international treaties and the rule of law. As the Wall Street Journal's Editorial Board reminds us, "What makes his sacrifice so compelling is that Mr. Lai could have avoided a prison cell by fleeing to one of his homes abroad. China and its Hong Kong factotums have sought every way possible to target Mr. Lai for daring to advocate for freedom for Hong Kong’s people.
"The 75-year-old has been convicted for his peaceful participation in three protests, including a vigil to commemorate the Chinese victims of the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square. He was also convicted on business fraud charges the U.S. State Department has rightly denounced as “spurious.” But his biggest trial, on national-security charges that could carry a life sentence, is scheduled for December. The government has denied Mr. Lai his choice of lawyer in the case."
A reminder: Hong Kong's national security law trials are jury-less trials. Instead, three judges handpicked by the government try the cases. Consequently (and tragically): "Everyone in Hong Kong knows he will be found guilty—an example of how Hong Kong is following China’s dictates despite the promise Beijing made to Britain of autonomy for 50 years after 1997 in a formal treaty."
Speaking of China: this really is a country with so many political prisoners -- the global leader, in fact! Another prominent political prisoner recently in the news due to a sad anniversary passing: Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti, held incommunicado since 2017 and whose 9th anniversary of sentencing was on September 23rd. Also in the past week came confirmation that another Uyghur (AKA Uighur) scholar, anthropologist Rahile Dawut, has been sentenced to life imprisonment -- and has, in fact, been behind bars since 2017, when she was "disappeared" by the Chinese authorities.
And lest it be not realized that it's not only people in the "periphery regions" (be it Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia or Hong Kong) who are made political prisoners, my Twitter timeline today also contained information about jailed human rights lawyer, Li Yuhan, being in ill health ("walking w difficulties due to spinal injury, eye sight deteriorating, looking gaunt and aged, depressed, sorrowful, and helpless"). For the record: Li Yuhan is 74 years old; just one year younger than Jimmy Lai. So yeah, I'd understand fears people have of elderly folks like them dying in prison.
Bringing the focus back to Hong Kong: yesterday saw Ronson Chan, the head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), sentenced to five days of jail for obstructing a police officer who asked him for his identification card last September in Mongkok. But he's lodged an appeal against the decision and -- somewhat surprisingly, given what Hong Kong is like these days -- was granted bail in the meantime.
The terms of his bail seem pretty excessive though. We're talking of a HK$30,000 cash bond, and his having to surrender all his travel documents and report twice a week to the police! And unfair in view of a police officer accused of sexually assaulting a seven (yes, SEVEN)-year-old girl having been granted a HK$20,000 cash bail on the very same day! (And yes, I know the officer has not been found guilty (yet) -- but, still!!!)
By the way: Chan’s arrest occurred two weeks before he was set to pursue a six-month journalism fellowship programme at Oxford University. He was granted bail then without travel restrictions, so that he could indeed go to Oxford, and his trial was postponed until after his return.
I remember Ronson Chan stating when he was in England that he would definitely be returning to Hong Kong and some people labelling him foolhardy and having a marty complex for doing so. But, like Jimmy Lai, he really obviously f**king loves Hong Kong -- and I truly hope that their doing so will not be in vain and, instead, pay off in the long run.
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