Police lead Jimmy Lai away from his home after he was arrested on August 10, 2020. Mr. Lai faces the possibility of life in prison over conspiracy and sedition charges.VERNON YUEN/AFP/Getty Images
Immigration Minister Lena Diab is being urged – including by two former Liberal justice ministers – to grant Canadian citizenship to jailed Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai, whose trial reaches its final stage in two weeks’ time.
Mr. Lai, whose mother was Canadian and whose twin sister lives here, is facing life imprisonment under the Beijing-imposed national security law, which human rights analysts say is being used to curb free speech and dissent.
Mr. Lai, who is 77 and has diabetes, is one of the longest-held prisoners under the security law established five years ago. He has been held in solitary confinement for four years and eight months and his lawyers have raised grave concerns about the effect of his prison conditions – which are swelteringly hot in the summer – on his health.
The businessman’s long-delayed trial resumes in mid-August when closing submissions are due. Mr. Lai’s international lawyer, Caoilfhionn Gallagher, said that Mr. Lai was being tried for “the ‘crime’ of running a pro-democracy newspaper which stood up to the Chinese Communist Party.”
Mr. Lai’s Canadian lawyer, former justice minister Irwin Cotler, has written to the immigration department to support an application from Mr. Lai for citizenship saying “his case calls out for action.” Former Liberal justice minister Allan Rock has also written in support, Mr. Cotler’s office said.
Under the Citizenship Act, the immigration minister has a discretionary power to grant citizenship to “alleviate … special and unusual hardship” or to “reward services of an exceptional value to Canada.”
Mr. Cotler wrote that by granting Mr. Lai citizenship under this power, the government can “provide the hope and comfort that would come from knowing that he can reunite with his Canadian family if released.”
He called the publisher a “human rights hero” who embodies Canadian values of “media freedom, democracy and rule of law.”
“As perhaps the world’s most well-recognized prisoner of conscience, Mr. Lai’s outstanding contribution to human rights and the rule of law is beyond doubt,” he added.
Mr. Lai founded the now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily after the 1989 massacre of demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. It became the largest independent Chinese-language media outlet in the region.
He and six senior staff members were arrested in 2020 and charged with “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” under the national security law and under a sedition law. The sedition charge had not been used since the 1960s, when Hong Kong was still under British rule, until it was resurrected five years ago.
The six staff members pleaded guilty to the collusion charge after being detained for between 488 and 521 days. But Mr. Lai pleaded not guilty.
“It’s long past time to release him and let him spend his final years with his family,” Ms. Gallagher said. The businessman also has significant investments here, including hotels, restaurants and spas in Ontario.
Efforts to award Mr. Lai honorary citizenship have been delayed until MPs return from their summer break.
Campaign under way to grant Jimmy Lai, jailed Hong Kong publisher, Canadian citizenship
In June, a coalition of senators and MPs from all parties, led by Liberal MP Judy Sgro, called for Mr. Lai to be granted honorary Canadian citizenship, as a symbolic gesture of support for the jailed businessman.
Mr. Cotler told The Globe and Mail that Mr. Lai “has a strong case” not just for honorary citizenship but for a grant of actual citizenship by the minister.
Days before the G7 summit started, Ms. Sgro was poised to present a unanimous-consent motion – with the support of all parties – calling for Mr. Lai to be made an honorary Canadian. But just before she was about to present the motion in the House of Commons chamber, the government house leader, Steven MacKinnon, told her to shelve it.
Ms. Sgro said she aims to persevere with efforts to grant Mr. Lai honorary citizenship, which Canada previously granted to Nelson Mandela and other jailed dissidents, when Parliament returns. One option is to propose another study by a parliamentary committee on his detention and trial to be voted on.
She said she also plans to call Ms. Diab about granting Mr. Lai actual Canadian citizenship under the minister’s discretionary powers before the trial resumes.
“We need to do whatever we can – either through honorary citizenship or actual citizenship,” Ms. Sgro said. “He’s going to trial on the 14th and he is 77 years old. How much does this man need to suffer?”
Brandon Silver, Director of Policy at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, said, “With the conclusion of his trial resuming this month, the case for his immediate humanitarian release is urgent.
“Now that Canada has established a high-level dialogue with China, we trust our government will seize this opportunity to request clemency,” he added.
Earlier this week Hong Kong announced it had issued arrest warrants and bounties for 19 pro-democracy activists, including several in Canada.
Asked for a response, the immigration department said it does not comment on individual cases.