The recent court sentencing of Next Media founder Chi-Ying Lai on fraud charges and Hong Kong activist Wong Chi-Fung and others has drawn widespread attention. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement Thursday (Dec. 3) condemning the Hong Kong government’s persecution of democracy advocates in Hong Kong.
The U.S. is alarmed by the Hong Kong government’s political persecution of courageous democracy advocates in Hong Kong, the statement said. The use of the courts to suppress peaceful dissent is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes, and underscores once again that the Chinese Communist Party’s primary concern is the freedom of speech and thought of its people.
The statement also said that Hong Kong had benefited in the past from a free and open system that praised the peaceful initiatives of Huang Zhifeng, Zhou Ting, Lin Langyan, and Li Zhiying, among others. The people of Hong Kong should be able to freely exercise the rights guaranteed by the Basic Law, the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Pompeo said, “Their struggle against the Chinese Communist Party’s denial of their fundamental rights will live on in history as a testament to the human spirit.”
The statement also concluded by saying, “The United States will continue to work with our allies and partners around the world to defend the rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong and those oppressed by the Communist Party. We stand with Huang Zhifeng, Zhou Ting, Lin Langyan, Li Zhiying, the people of Hong Kong, and all the people of China.”
A Hong Kong court on Wednesday sentenced Huang Zhifeng, Lin Langyan and Zhou Ting on charges of inciting, organizing and participating in an unauthorized assembly for their involvement in the siege of police headquarters on June 21 last year. The magistrate said the case was premeditated, the three defendants were active participants, the assembly was of a certain size, and the slogans called by the demonstrators were a challenge to police authority, and that this case was more serious than other assembly cases, and that a deterrent sentence was necessary.
The Next Media Group founder and Apple Daily owner Chi-Ying Lai, Next Media Group president Darryl Chow and chief executive officer Michael Wong were charged Wednesday with fraud. The case was arraigned in court Thursday.
The case was heard by Hong Kong District National Security Appointed Judge So Wai-tak, who, after hearing both the prosecution and defense, denied Lai’s bail application and remanded him in custody until April 16 for another arraignment, while the other two Next Media executives were granted bail.
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