The Association of Overseas Hong Kong Media Professionals (AOHKMP) welcomes the Hong Kong All Party Parliamentary Group (APPGs) report – ‘Inquiry into Media freedom in Hong Kong: the case of Jimmy Lai and Apple Daily.’
We provided testimony for this report urgently calling attention to the escalating use of the law to crack down on press freedom.
We are pleased to see that the report states that the current situation in Hong Kong is a glaring violation of the Joint Declaration that was meant to preserve human rights guarantees given when Hong Kong revert to Chinese rule. The report note the:“ UK’s added responsibility to Hong Kong owing to this Declaration, and to Jimmy Lai who is a British citizen, the response from the UK Government has been minimal, arguably negligent.”
The report recommends that the UK Government should treat the case of Jimmy Lai, as that of a British citizen who is a political prisoner and should apply pressure for his release.
Beside Jimmy Lai, The APPGs call for the release of journalists, including Apple Daily media staff Cheung Kim-hung, Law Wai-Kwong, Lam Man- Chung, Chan Pui-man, Fung Wai-kong, Yeung Ching-kee, and the six other journalists and press freedom defenders detained in Hong Kong.
In our submission, AOHKMP highlighted the impact these prosecutions have on building a climate of fear for reporters in Hong Kong, ‘the trials that are underway and pending are likely to confirm our worst fears as they are being overseen by judges handpicked to preside over court cases involving the imposed NSL.
The APPG report noted that since the implementation of the NSL at least 18 journalists have been arrested in retaliation for their journalism work and at least 8 news outlets ceased operations. Almost 1,000 people in the media sector have lost their jobs, with many of them having to switch industries. And at least 200 professionals in the media sector have left Hong Kong for foreign countries.
We endorse the APPG’s call for targeted sanctions to hold Hong Kong officials accountable for the persecution of pro-democracy advocates and curtailing media freedom, including Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee.
AOHKMP also welcomes the APPGs recommendations to provide assistance to journalists in Hong Kong by providing them with emergency visas in cases where they do not qualify under the BNO scheme.
AOHKMP latest survey “Report on the Hong Kong journalist diaspora community” suggests that hundreds of exiled HK Journalists are now living overseas forming a diaspora media community that is struggling to establish itself, yet with few regrets over having left Hong Kong. Many journalists in their new home countries need training in the English language to be able to continue working in the media industry.
The APPG calls on the UK Government identify opportunities to support the free press in Hong Kong, including by supporting Hong Kong journalists who were forced to leave, and supporting journalists who fled to the UK to continue their professions as journalists. This includes making funding available for those journalists keen to continue to work and support Cantonese speaking media.
We also support the APPG’s suggestion to carefully scrutinise the way the UK provides visas for journalists working for Chinese state media, in light of widespread reports of infiltration by PRC nationals into British institutions.
The AOHKMP urges the international community to note how the NSL is being weaponised when considering the credibility of the judicial system that claims to be safeguarding Hong Kong’s role as an international financial centre.
Please visit our website: https://www.aohkmp.org.uk/ or See Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/aohkmp for the full report.
For media enquiries in Chinese or English, please contact us at:info@aohkmp.org.uk
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