Jimmy Lai, founder of Apple Daily, looks on as he leaves the Court of Final Appeal by prison van in Hong Kong in 2021.Tyrone Siu/Reuters
A campaign is under way to obtain Canadian citizenship for jailed Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai, currently on trial under a Beijing-imposed national-security law that critics say is emblematic of the erosion of rights and freedoms in the former British colony.
Mr. Lai, a British citizen and publisher of the former pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, was arrested and charged in December, 2020. Apple Daily was shuttered permanently six months later, and other top executives were also arrested.
Ostensibly intended to target secession, subversion and terrorism, Hong Kong’s 2020 national-security law contains vaguely defined offences that Amnesty International has said mean “virtually anything could be deemed a threat.”
Former federal justice minister Irwin Cotler, lead Canadian counsel to Mr. Lai and chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights in Montreal, said granting the publisher citizenship would be a timely gesture of solidarity.
“Jimmy Lai exemplifies the struggle for human rights and democracy in our time. By granting him citizenship, Canada would honour his extraordinary bravery and pursuit of justice in Hong Kong,” Mr. Cotler said.
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“Citizenship would provide Mr. Lai with protection at this crucial moment in his unfair trial, and offer hope to prisoners of conscience around the world, demonstrating that Canada stands in solidarity with them and recognizes their plight and pain.”
Multiple MPs and senators are expected to attend a June 10 event in Ottawa to support this campaign for citizenship. Among those backing are Liberal MP Judy Sgro, Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar and Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe.
Back in 2023, both the House of Commons and Senate passed unanimous consent motions urging Mr. Lai’s release. “Jimmy Lai stands for so many of the values championed by Canadians, most importantly media freedom, respect for the rule of law, and standing up for what is right,” part of the motion read.
Mr. Lai, 77, has strong connections to Canada, according to Brandon Silver, director of policy and projects at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre. His mother was a Canadian citizen. His sister, and nieces and nephews, are Canadian citizens and residents of Ontario. Mr. Lai’s other businesses employ more than 1,500 in Canada.
He noted that Canada’s immigration minister has the power under the Citizenship Act to grant citizenship at her or his discretion.
The Hong Kong publisher has spent more than 1,600 days in custody so far.
Ms. Sgro said she’s worried Mr. Lai, who is diabetic, could die in jail.
“I think we need to recognize people like him who are willing to put their life on the line,” she said. “The only way we learn so many things is through good journalism.”
On Wednesday, the Law Society of Ontario presented Mr. Lai with its Human Rights Award, which “recognizes outstanding contributions to the advancement of human rights and/or the promotion of the rule of law provincially, nationally, or internationally.”
Immigration Minister Lena Diab’s office declined to comment on the proposal. “Due to privacy legislation, we cannot comment on the status of individuals,” press secretary Renée LeBlanc Proctor said in a statement.
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An estimated 300,000 Canadian citizens live in Hong Kong, which was handed over to the People’s Republic of China in 1997 by Britain. A crackdown on civil rights has steadily eroded the territory’s political and social freedoms, which were unique in China – a legacy of Hong Kong’s years under British control. Critics say the 2020 national-security law effectively criminalizes dissent and opposition.
Prosecutors have tried to paint Mr. Lai as the architect of widespread anti-government protests that rocked Hong Kong in 2019, and accused him of leading a campaign to get foreign governments to sanction Hong Kong and Chinese officials.
During the trial in February, he was asked about a 2020 op-ed in which he predicted doom for Hong Kong ahead of Beijing’s imposition of the national-security law. Mr. Lai said, “All has come to pass.”
Mr. Lai had written that the law would “not only turn Hong Kong into an ordinary mainland city without freedom and rule of law,” but somewhere “shrouded in terror” like Xinjiang, where the Chinese authorities have been accused of widespread human-rights abuses.
Asked by prosecutors whether this assessment still held true, Mr. Lai responded, “If you ask yourself honestly, who in Hong Kong can tell the truth now?”
A verdict is expected this fall. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of sedition and conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. If convicted, Mr. Lai could face up to life in prison.
With reports from James Griffiths in Hong Kong