Jimmy Lai marks 1,000 days in jail

Sebastien Lai, son of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, holds a sign calling for the release of his father on the sidelines of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, September 27, 2023.

Sebastien Lai, son of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, holds a sign calling for the release of his father on the sidelines of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, September 27, 2023. (Reuters/Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber)

CPJ joined 10 other press freedom and human rights groups on Monday in calling on British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to take immediate and decisive action to secure the release of Jimmy Lai, founder of the now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and a British citizen.

Lai, 75, has spent more than 1,000 days behind bars in Hong Kong. The release of Lai, who is facing charges that could lead to life imprisonment, is a fundamental step to safeguard press freedom in Hong Kong.

The groups urge the U.K. government to use all available public and private channels and international fora like the U.N. General Assembly and the Human Rights Council to state that the government wants the release of Lai, CPJ’s 2021 Gwen Ifill Awardee.  The groups also asked Sunak to make a public statement calling on the Hong Kong government to release all journalists wrongly detained for their work and for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

Read the letter here.

🗯️ “In imprisoning a man who embodies Hong Kong’s rise, authorities in the city are showing the world they no longer tolerate the very things that once made it so great: free speech, the rule of law and a love for liberty,” Sebastien Lai, Jimmy’s son, wrote in a New York Times guest essay on Thursday.

Global press freedom updates

Spotlight

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers the State of the European Union address to the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France, September 13, 2023. (Reuters/Yves Herman)

This week, 80 organizations called on the European Parliament to help protect journalists from spyware in the draft European Media Freedom Act.

In a joint letter, the organizations state: “Current protections in the law are de facto completely ineffective,” and call for the law to explicitly and unconditionally prohibit the use of spyware against journalists.

Journalists and their sources are not free and safe if they are spied on. In mid-September, some 500 journalists wrote to members of the European Parliament, calling on them to introduce an absolute ban on surveillance of the press through spyware.

Learn more about spyware:

Read CPJ’s special reportZero-Click Spyware: Enemy of the Press

Review CPJ’s safety advisory on how journalists can protect themselves from spyware

Read our full recommendations for governments and international bodies to protect journalists against spyware, including our call for export controls on spyware technology

Learn more about press freedom in the European Union in CPJ’s special report “Fragile Progress

What we are reading

A closer look | CPJ’s most-read features in September

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