Senior Catholic leaders sign petition calling for immediate release of Jimmy Lai
Senior Catholic leaders from around the world have signed a petition calling on the Government
of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) “to immediately and unconditionally release”
pro-democracy advocate, Jimmy Lai.
Background
Jimmy Lai, aged 75, is a high-profile supporter of the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement, a
writer, publisher, and owner of Apple Daily, once Hong Kong’s most popular independent
Chinese-language newspaper, now forcibly closed by the authorities. Since 1990 when he launched
his media company, with a pro-democracy and anti-corruption focus, the Chinese Communist
Party and the Hong Kong SAR authorities have repeatedly targeted him. That targeting has
intensified since the pro-democracy protests of 2019-2020.
Mr Lai has been in prison continuously since December 2020, following his arrest in August 2020.
He was initially held on remand in pre-trial detention, and was then convicted and sentenced for
participation in peaceful pro-democracy assemblies and a vigil marking the anniversary of the
Tiananmen Square protests and massacre of 1989. He is currently serving a sentence in relation to
a spurious fraud conviction, which has been widely condemned as an abuse of the law to silence
dissent and freedom of speech. For example, the United States condemned the conviction and
described the sentence as a “grossly unjust outcome” which “[b]y any objective measure… is neither
fair nor just”.
Mr Lai is now awaiting trial for sedition and charges under the controversial National Security Law
(NSL). His trial is currently scheduled to begin on 18th December 2023, after repeated delays. If
convicted, he faces a potential life sentence for his peaceful pro-democracy campaigning and his
work at Apple Daily. The NSL has been heavily criticised by many governments, international
bodies and civil society organisations. The United Nations (UN) human rights office and UN
expert bodies have repeatedly expressed concerns about the NSL, stating the broadly worded
legislation can lead to “discriminatory or arbitrary interpretation and enforcement which could undermine human
rights protection”. Amnesty International has called the NSL “dangerously vague and broad” with widely
defined “catch-all offences used in politically motivated prosecutions with potentially heavy penalties.”
The Petition
Now, in the lead-up to Jimmy Lai’s NSL and sedition trial, ten senior Roman Catholic leaders from
around the world have signed a petition calling for his immediate and unconditional release. The
petition, signed by bishops representing dioceses and archdioceses across the US, India, Australia,
Lithuania, Canada, UK, Ireland, and Nigeria, explains that “Mr. Lai’s persecution for supporting prodemocracy causes […] has gone on long enough.” The senior Catholic leaders continue:
“There is no place for such cruelty and oppression in a territory that claims to uphold the rule of law and
respect the right to freedom of expression. In standing up for his beliefs and committing himself through his
faith to challenge autocracy and repression, Jimmy Lai has lost his business, been cut off from his family,
and has just surpassed 1,000 days in prison, while facing the prospect of many more years of incarceration
to come. He is 75 years old. He must be freed now.”
The ten signatories to the petition are:
• Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York (United States);
• Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, Major-Archbishop of Trivandrum (India);
• The Most Rev. Timothy P. Broglio, Archbishop for the Military Services-USA (United
States);
• The Most Rev. Anthony Fisher. O.P., Archbishop of Sydney (Australia);
• The Most Rev. Gintaras GruĊĦas, Archbishop of Vilnius (Lithuania);
• The Most Rev. J. Michael Miller, C.S.B, Archbishop of Vancounver (Canada);
• The Most Rev. John Wilson, Archbishop of Southwark (United Kingdom);
• The Most Rev. Robert E. Barron, Bishop of Winona-Rochester (United States);
• The Most Rev. Alan A. McGuckian, S.J., Bishop of Raphoe (Ireland);
• The Most Rev. Lucius Ugorji, Bishop of Umuahia (Nigeria).
We, the undersigned, bishops of the Catholic Church, call on the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to immediately and unconditionally release Jimmy Lai. Mr. Lai’s persecution for supporting pro-democracy causes through his newspaper and in other forums has gone on long enough. There is no place for such cruelty and oppression in a territory that claims to uphold the rule of law and respect the right to freedom of expression. In standing up for his beliefs and committing himself through his faith to challenge autocracy and repression, Jimmy Lai has lost his business, been cut off from his family, and has just surpassed 1,000 days in prison, while facing the prospect of many more years of incarceration to come. He is 75 years old. He must be freed now.
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