Political prisoner trial developments in Hong Kong this week (1 January - 5 January)
Trial of Jimmy Lai
The long-anticipated trial of Jimmy Lai opened on Monday 18 December 2023. Jimmy Lai is a British citizen who founded the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, the largest pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong. Mr Lai faces three charges under Hong Kong’s Beijing-imposed National Security Law which carries a maximum punishment of life in prison, and one charge for “conspiracy to publish seditious publications” under the colonial-era sedition law. A long-time critic of the Chinese Communist Party, Mr Lai is one of the most high-profile pro-democracy activists who has been arrested under the NSL.
This week, Mr Lai pleaded not guilty to conspiring to collude with foreign forces and publishing allegedly seditious materials in his trial under Hong Kong’s National Security Law.
During proceedings, the prosecution reportedly named several foreign politicians and human rights activists with whom Mr Lai had been in contact over recent years, and showed headshots of some of them. Among them are Hong Kong Watch’s co-founder and Chief Executive Benedict Rogers, the Executive Director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) Luke de Pulford, former US Consul-General to Hong Kong Ambassador James Cunningham, who chairs the board of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, Bill Browder, a human rights campaigner who pioneered the introduction of Magnitsky sanctions worldwide and former Japanese Member of Parliament Shiori Kanno.
In response, six Hong Kong Watch Patrons, including the former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind KC, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws KC, Lord Alton of Liverpool, Sarah Champion MP, Alistair Carmichael MP and Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, wrote a letter to British Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron urging him to issue a public statement on the Hong Kong Government targeting human rights activists and British citizens Benedict Rogers, Luke de Pulford and Bill Browder by listing them as alleged collaborators or co-conspirators in the case of British citizen Jimmy Lai. They also called for the UK Government to implement Magnitsky-style sanctions on Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee, including asset freezes and a travel ban.
Mr Lai’s trial is expected to last 80 days. The latest developments can be found on the Hong Kong Watch website.
Other Developments
Development 1: Hong Kong Chief Secretary says Article 23 will be completed in 2024
In a video to mark the new year, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee praised the Hong Kong Government for successfully bringing Hong Kong out of the pandemic in 2023 and implementing the policies laid out in his Policy Address in 2022. In 2024, John Lee said the Government will focus on boosting the economy and improving people’s lives, stating that Hong Kong would be “better than ever, and become more dazzling on the international stage.”
Hong Kong’s number two official, Chief Secretary Eric Chan, said that safeguarding national security will continue to be a priority this year. Mr Chan shared that Article 23, Hong Kong’s own national security law, would be completed in 2024. He also added that Article 23 would complement the Beijing-imposed National Security Law to punish activities that allegedly endanger national security.
Hong Kong Watch reported in October 2023 that John Lee announced that Article 23 would be introduced in 2024, warning that it would target foreign businesses, the freedom of expression and the last vestiges of independent media in Hong Kong. It would also endanger Hong Kong’s more than 1,000 political prisoners by making them susceptible to further and longer sentences while threatening to imprison other Hong Kongers for any act the Hong Kong authorities deem to be soft resistance to their rule.
Development 2: Hong Kong Justice Department deletes new online database of national security cases
On Tuesday, the Hong Kong Justice Department deleted a database of national security cases from its website days after it was published, without explanation. The index included case summaries for 106 national security cases since Beijing imposed the National Security Law in July 2020.
The database was released last Thursday, when the Justice Department said in a statement that the case summaries were to “serve as a convenient and practical tool for promoting national security education and conducting legal research on the national security laws.” When asked for an explanation of why the database was deleted, the Justice Department said, “Content of relevant webpages will be adjusted and amended having regard to circumstances.”
The removal of this database increases the lack of access to information in Hong Kong as well as transparency on the part of the Hong Kong Government, making it harder to keep the Hong Kong Government accountable for their ongoing destruction of the rule of law in the city.
香港政治犯審訊每週簡報（2024年1月1日至5日）
黎智英案
黎智英的《國家安全法》案件經數度延期後，終於在2023年12月18日開審。黎智英是英國公民，創辦了香港最大型民主派報紙《蘋果日報》，《蘋果》現已停運。他被控三項《國安法》控罪，最高可判處終身監禁，另被控一項殖民時代煽動法下的「串謀發布煽動刊物」罪。黎智英長期批評中國共產黨，是因《國安法》被捕而備受關注的社運人士之一。
本週，黎智英否認「串謀勾結外國勢力」及「串謀發布煽動刊物」等控罪。
據報導，控方在宣讀開案陳詞期間點出黎智英近年聯絡過的數名外國政治人物和人權倡議人士的名字，並展示頭像。被點名的海外人士包括香港監察共同創辦人兼行政總監羅傑斯（Benedict Rogers）、對華政策跨國議會聯盟（IPAC）執行總監裴倫德（Luke de Pulford）、前美國駐香港總領事兼香港自由委員會基金會（Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation）董事會主席郭明瀚（James Cunningham)、率先在全球推動馬格尼茨基制裁的人權倡議者Bill Browder和前日本國會議員菅野志櫻里（Shiori Kanno）。
六名香港監察贊助人，包括前英國外交大臣聶偉敬爵士（Sir Malcolm Rifkind）、御用大律師肯尼迪女男爵（Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws）、奧爾頓勳爵（Lord Alton of Liverpool）、國會議員柴萍恩（Sarah Champion MP）、Alistair Carmichael MP和御用大律師尼斯爵士（Sir Geoffrey Nice），就事件聯署致函英國外相甘民樂勳爵（Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton），促請他發表公開聲明，回應香港政府針對人權倡議人士和英國公民羅傑斯、裴倫德和Bill Browder，將他們列為英國公民黎智英案件的合作者或共謀者。他們同時呼籲英國政府對香港行政長官李家超施行馬格尼茨基式制裁，包括資產凍結和旅遊禁令。
黎智英案預計審期為80日，香港監察網站載有案件的最新發展。
其他事件
事件1：政務司司長指政府決心今年內完成23條立法
事件2：律政司刪除新設國安法案件網上資料庫