Woke up with a new arrest warrant & a HKD1m bounty. Grateful for those who reached out & offered support to me & fellow #Hongkongers who are wanted by the govt.
As I process this, let me reiterate that my advocacy for democracy & freedom has not and will not stop. #FreeHK ✊🏼
People of Hong Kong deserve access to independent information, and this legislation would help empower them with the tools to separate truth from propaganda.
On Friday, @SenatorLankford and @SenTimKaine introduced the bipartisan Jimmy Lai Internet Freedom Act, shortly after users in Hong Kong reported they were unable to access @thecfhk's website.
Named after 78-year-old imprisoned Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence following convictions on sham foreign collusion charges, the legislation supports firewall-circumvention infrastructure aimed at strengthening Hong Kongers’ ability to access and share information online.
➡️ https://t.co/QtsTKTfGhV
🕯️Today, political prisoner Prince Wong Ji-Yuet 黃子悅 spends her birthday unjustly imprisoned in Hong Kong.
No one should spend time in prison for defending democracy.
We wish her a happy birthday and call for her immediate release, along with all political prisoners in Hong Kong.
Read her story: https://t.co/8A7l83vaqJ
"Human rights should be a priority. They should not be a bargaining chip. Beijing wants political prisoners to be forgotten, and we're here to make sure that will never happen."
On Tuesday at the House Triangle, @Frances_Hui of @thecfhk joined @RepMcGovern and advocates from the Tibetan, Uyghur, Hong Kong, and Chinese communities to urge that no summit deal be made without the release of Jimmy Lai and political prisoners across Hong Kong and China.
More from today's Capitol rally for Tibet, where our Policy and Advocacy Manager @frances_hui, who faces a HK$1 million bounty from Hong Kong authorities, spoke alongside Tibetan, Uyghur, Hong Kong, and Chinese communities.
"This is our generation, and that was our home. And this is why, at this moment, while Xi Jinping is here in Washington, we stand together to speak up for those who cannot stand with us today."
Ng Kin-wai, who was just released from prison, was spotted in Yuen Long. Good to see he’s free. He said, “Imprisonment cannot stop people’s yearning for freedom.”
We could hear a group of protesters from the White House North Portico during President Xi’s arrival for the state dinner. The crowd shouted chants including: "Xi Jinping, You're Not Welcome," "Free Hong Kong," "Keep Taiwan Free,””Justice for Uyghurs” & "China Sponsors Genocide”
"That is why solidarity between our communities matters so much. Because authoritarian repression depends on isolation. And we came together today to show that they would not win."
Our Policy and Advocacy Manager @Frances_Hui, who faces a HK$1 million bounty for her advocacy in the U.S., spoke at today's Capitol rally for Tibet alongside Tibetan, Uyghur, and Chinese communities standing up to the CCP.
Washington D.C., Xi Jinping is in town.
Jimmy Lai must be freed now. Today is the day for President #Trump to secure his release.
#FreeJimmyLai#XiVisit
A full nine days after we released our "Still Suffering" update into deteriorating prison conditions in Hong Kong, authored by @frances_hui, the Correctional Services Department has finally responded.
The report revealed that CSD guards had rehearsed for Jimmy Lai's death in prison, heightening the urgency to free the 78-year-old prisoner of conscience on humanitarian grounds.
Lai is in poor health, though quite how bad is unknown since CSD stopped allowing medical reports to reach his family.
CSD labels us “anti-China, Hong Kong-destabilizing figures” responsible for “fabricating lies” about Jimmy Lai’s health and custodial arrangements.
If there’s nothing to hide in Jimmy Lai's solitary confinement cell, CSD should allow independent inspectors to assess the conditions in which he and other Hong Kong political prisoners are being held.
CSD operates with zero independent oversight.
Maybe that's why it took them over a week to respond.
#FreeJimmyLai
https://t.co/2hseJ1NYnp
If Chinese or Hong Kong diplomats are attacking peaceful human rights protestors then they should be expelled from the US ASAP. This cannot be normalized and a public example needs to be made @ChinaSelect@CECCgov
It is difficult to watch American service members kneeling to sweep a red carpet as Xi Jinping looks on. Those who serve our country deserve to be treated with more respect especially in front of the leader of the Chinese Communist Party.
Today at the House Triangle, @thecfhk Policy & Advocacy Manager @Frances_Hui joined @RepMcGovern and advocates from the Tibetan, Uyghur, Hong Kong, and Chinese communities ahead of Xi Jinping's state visit to Washington.
Frances spoke about 78-year-old Jimmy Lai, who has spent nearly six years in custody, much of it in near-total isolation:
"Our message is simple: no deals without freedom. There should be no summit deal without the release of Jimmy Lai and political prisoners in Hong Kong and across China. ... Beijing wants these people forgotten. We are here to make sure that never happens."
.@SecRubio has been a strong supporter of freeing Jimmy Lai.
As a senator, Marco Rubio spent over a decade as one of Hong Kong's staunchest allies in Washington, authoring the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act and chairing the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (@CECCgov). Now, as secretary of state, he has been a strong supporter of freeing Jimmy Lai.
In this interview he explains the Trump administration has brought up Jimmy Lai's case to Xi Jinping in the past.
A busy week as communities in Washington come together to (un)welcome Xi Jinping in town. Hope to see many of you at these events. We will make sure our voice is heard loud & clear: No deals without the freedom of ppl across China. Kudos to everyone organizing behind the scenes.
As Xi Jinping arrives in Washington this week, the @thecfhk Foundation will be joining partners across the city to make sure the case of Jimmy Lai and Hong Kong's political prisoners stays at the center of the conversation. Here is where you can find us this week and get involved.
Dün Capitol Hill'de, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ile birlikte @frances_hui ve @vivianwubeijing ile “Propaganda Monitor: China Edition”ın lansmanına katılan Uygur hareketi icra direktörü @RushanAbbas
Pekin'in propagandayı, dezenformasyonu ve sınır ötesi baskıyı nasıl bir silah olarak kullandığını, diaspora seslerini ve bağımsız gazetecileri karalamak, korkutmak ve susturmak için nasıl kullandığını tartıştı.
Otoriter propaganda sadece anlatıyı kontrol etmekle ilgili değil, aynı zamanda istismarları gizlemek ve bunları ortaya çıkaranları baltalamak için kullanılan bir araçtır. Hükümetler, medya ve sivil toplum bu taktikleri karşı koymalı, hedef alınmış gazetecileri ve diaspora topluluklarını korumalı ve sınır ötesi baskının faillerini sorumlu tutmalıdır. Sessizlik, otoriter propagandaya başarılı olması için alan verir. Gerçeği savunmalı ve onu anlatmak için her şeyi riske atanları savunmalıyız.
Bu zaruri tartışmayı Capitol Hill'e düzenledikleri için RSF, Clayton Weimers ve @aleksandraketal'a teşekkür etti.
Earlier today at @RSF_inter's Propaganda Monitor launch at the U.S. Capitol, @theCFHK's @Frances_Hui joined @RushanAbbas and journalist @vivianwubeijing to discuss Beijing's disinformation operations. On Jimmy Lai's arrest, Hui said: "Once they start by arresting one key person, for example, Jimmy Lai, it sends a chilling effect to everyone working in that industry. Journalists are scared to report on government wrongdoings."
Read the full report here: https://t.co/8jFH4jBZm7
Join me next Monday at @RSF_inter’s launch of its new report on China’s global propaganda and disinformation.
I’ll be joining a panel to discuss how censorship, attacks on press freedom, and transnational repression work together and what Hong Kong’s experience can teach us.
🪧In response to an @inmediahk enquiry about our new report, “Still Suffering: Systemic Abuse Continues in Hong Kong Prisons,” which revealed Hong Kong prison guards have rehearsed for the event of Jimmy Lai's death in custody, the Hong Kong government said:
"[The Department] noticed that an anti-China, Hong Kong-disrupting entity, together with persons who have absconded overseas and are suspected of committing offenses endangering national security, has continued to fabricate claims about Jimmy Lai’s health and spread lies about his custodial arrangements under the guise of so-called 'reports' that are entirely without factual basis."
The Hong Kong government can call our findings “fabricated” and label @frances_hui, our policy and advocacy manager and the report’s author, an "absconder," but this is classic misdirection that does nothing to address our evidence and concerns.
Our report draws on credible sources with first- and second-hand knowledge of prison conditions in Hong Kong, along with accounts from court proceedings, family members, and former prisoners.
The evidence shows that Jimmy Lai’s health is deteriorating while he remains held under extraordinarily restrictive conditions, including prolonged solitary confinement, which raises serious questions about the lack of independent oversight of correctional facilities in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Correctional Services can keep up the denials and misdirection. The facts remain. We must do everything we can to save Jimmy Lai before it is too late.
That prison guards have rehearsed procedures for the possibility of his death in custody only makes the urgency clearer.
#FreeJimmyLai
https://t.co/UGQx7pe7nd