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G7 countries have issued a joint statement calling for China To end the oppression of hong kong media mogul jimmy broughtInternational pressure is increasing Beijing To release him.
Lai, a 78-year-old British national, Faces the possibility of spending life in prison after that he was found guilty of Earlier this week, he was charged with treason and collusion with foreign forces.
Founder of now-defunct apply daily The newspaper was arrested shortly after in 2020 Hong Kong was hit by massive anti-government protests,
In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, the foreign ministers of Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, Britain and the US, as well as the European Union, condemned Lai’s sentencing.
“We continue to express our concerns about declining rights, freedoms and autonomy hong kong,” it said. ”Freedom of expression and thought and freedom of the media are inherent in hong kongBasic law of.
“We call on the Hong Kong authorities to end such prosecutions and release jimmy brought Immediately.”
China Rebuked the G7 for their “irresponsible comments”, calling it “criminal interference” China“This is a serious violation of the basic norms governing the internal affairs and international relations of the United States.”
,jimmy brought Is the mastermind and partner of a series of major adversariesChina Riots in Hong Kong. He has committed heinous crimes and caused serious harm,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Canada said Wednesday.
Lai firmly believes Various world powers condemned But officials in China and Hong Kong have doubled down, saying the case should send a “clear message” to the financial hub’s pro-democracy movement.
British government summoned China’s ambassador To register your protest there After this, US President Donald Trump expressed grief He said he had spoken to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about the matter.
“On my instructions, the Foreign Office has today called the Chinese ambassador to outline our position in the strongest possible terms,” Britain’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told parliament. He described it as a “politically motivated” prosecution against a British citizen.
Lai’s family members have expressed concern over him Health deteriorating in jailLai suffers from diabetes, heart problems and high blood pressure, His daughter Claire Lai recently said that he had experienced dramatic weight loss, failing eyesight and problems with hearing and vision,
Lai was born in mainland China and moved from factory work as a child to Hong Kong, then a British colony, to become a successful textile entrepreneur.
In the mid-1990s, he turned to publishing, founding apple dailyWhich later became one of the most influential and vocal pro-democracy newspapers in the city.
In 1994, Lai became a full British citizen and has never held a Chinese or Hong Kong passport. Despite that, he has been Treated as a Chinese citizen by the Hong Kong authorities,
He was arrested in 2020 following mass demonstrations sparked by the controversial national security law, when thousands took to the streets amid fears Beijing Will tighten its control over the city’s autonomy.
His son Sebastian Lai says that if his father were released today, he would not recognize the city. “It’s clearly no longer the kind of Hong Kong that had all these freedoms that you could engage with,” he said. Guardian,