When Hong Kong was handed over to China from the British in 1997, the city colony’s freedoms were supposed to be maintained for the next 50 years. But in nearly half that time, Beijing has broken its promises and imposed its totalitarian rule. A national security law that curtailed freedom of speech has contributed to turning a once-thriving city colony into a climate of repression. One man imprisoned under this national security law has become the face of Hong Kong's suffering. Jimmy Lai, who fled from the mainland to Hong Kong as a boy, became an outspoken critic of the People’s Republic of China after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, and founded a lively free-speech-defending newspaper Apple Daily. In 2020 Lai became the first person convicted under the national security law and has served nearly four years in solitary confinement and is still in prison today.
On this episode of Free Expression podcast Jimmy Lai’s son Sebastien and human rights lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallagher discuss with Gerry Baker the latest on Jimmy Lai’s health and the appalling conditions he is living under, the bogus charges levied against him, and the diplomatic and economic pressure that can be put on China if Jimmy Lai does not go free.
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