Former ministers and senior members of the UK legal community urge the Foreign Secretary to hold China to account for the ongoing assault on the free press in Hong Kong
Today, a group of former Cabinet Ministers and senior members of the UK legal community have written to the UK Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss MP, to urge her to hold China to account for its ongoing assault on a free press in Hong Kong.
These letters follow the closure of StandNews, one of the few remaining pro-democracy media outlets in Hong Kong, and the decision by the Hong Kong Police to arrest several StandNews journalists and the Hong Kong pro-democracy activists Denise Ho and Margaret Ng on the grounds of “conspiracy to publish seditious materials”.
Former Foreign Secretaries Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Lord Owen of Plymouth and the last Governor of Hong Kong Lord Patten of Barnes wrote to the Foreign Secretary urging her to ‘speak out in the strongest possible terms about this incident in particular and the deteriorating press freedom situation more generally in Hong Kong, and to consider whether the time has come to impose targeted sanctions in response to the Chinese regime’s repeated, blatant and severe violations of the Sino-British Joint Declaration and international human rights obligations.’
Sir Geoffrey Nice QC and Baroness Helena Kennedy of the Shaws QC, who is the Director of the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute, called on the UK Government to do all it can to secure the release of the seven individuals arrested and raised particular concern over the arrest of Margaret Ng, ‘who as well as being one of Hong Kong’s top lawyers is also a British citizen, and the recipient of the International Bar Association’s award for outstanding contribution to human rights.’
Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, has written to the Foreign Secretary encouraging her to do everything possible ‘to urge the authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong to release the seven people who have been arrested, to drop the outrageous charges made against them, and to take steps to defend media freedom in Hong Kong.’
前英國內閣大臣和法律界資深人士敦促外交大臣追究中國持續侵蝕香港新聞自由
幾位前內閣部長和英國法律界資深人士致函英國外交大臣卓慧思(Liz Truss)，敦促英國政府追究中國持續侵蝕香港新聞自由。
聯署信件是在立場新聞被迫停運，以及香港警方以「串謀發布煽動刊物罪」拘捕立場新聞幾名記者和香港社運人士何韻詩及吳靄儀後發出的。
前外交大臣 Malcom Rifkind 爵士和普利茅斯的歐文勳爵以及前港督彭定康勛爵致函英國外交大臣，敦促她以最強烈的措辭評論香港日益惡化的新聞自由，並考慮就中國政府再次嚴重違反《中英聯合聲明》和國際人權義務對其實施制裁。
英國御用大律師 Geoffrey Nice 爵士和國際律師協會人權研究所所長兼御用大律師 Helena Kennedy 男爵夫人呼籲英國政府盡其所能確保所有被捕者獲釋，並對吳靄儀的被捕表示特別關注，指她不僅是香港的頂級大律師之一，同時也是英國公民，並曾獲得國際律師協會頒發的人權傑出貢獻獎。
前大法官和司法大臣 Falconer 勳爵亦去信外交大臣，鼓勵她盡一切可能敦促北京和香港當局釋放所有被捕人士，撤銷對他們提出的無理指控，並捍衛香港新聞自由。