My Take | Jimmy Lai’s UK lawyers threatened – by generic Gmail
- The latest story about the London-based lawyers of the jailed media tycoon being threatened by Hong Kong’s national security police is a joke, but it is one on the international mainstream press
When it comes to the Western press covering Hong Kong and mainland China, basic journalism standards need not apply. The latest example? Three London lawyers representing jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying claimed to have received threatening emails purportedly from the city’s national security police.
It’s not clear exactly what Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC and her colleagues Jonathan Price and Jennifer Robinson told the press. But the story making the rounds globally is that of China’s intimidation of Lai’s lawyers.
The Evening Standard headlined with: “London barristers representing a prominent democracy campaigner have allegedly been threatened by security officials in Hong Kong.” But that was “according to The Times”.
Since all three barristers are based in London, couldn’t the Evening Standard reporter pick up the phone to call their chamber? I have no idea what The Times’ report was like, since it was behind a paywall, but am sure that given its stellar reputation, it adhered to the highest journalistic standards.
Reuters’ wire story was more specific. “[The legal trio] had received anonymous emails warning them against travelling to the city [Hong Kong] to defend him [Lai],” it said. “The barristers … told Reuters the messages came from a generic Gmail address.”
Still, the lawyers claimed it was an act of state intimidation, and Baroness Helena Kennedy, director of the International Bar Association’s Institute of Fundamental Rights, agreed. “Intimidating the lawyers who act for citizens pursuing freedom and democracy is the tactic of an authoritarian regime,” she told Reuters.