Tang Lung-wai, Hongkonger challenging 40-year jail term in the Philippines, thrown in solitary confinement
Radio interview that 47-year-old gave to local radio station revealed that he was keeping a mobile phone in his cell, prompting punishment
The Hongkonger challenging a 40-year jail term in the Philippines was put in solitary confinement after being found to have kept a mobile phone while behind bars.
That was revealed on Friday, just a day after Tang Lung-wai spoke on a live Hong Kong radio programme, and three days after he got crucial records which could prove his innocence.
Speaking to RTHK on Thursday, Tang, jailed in Manila for drug possession, said he expected the move.
“[The Philippine authorities] now learn that I have been using a phone to contact the outside world ... I guess I will be thrown into an isolation cell,” he said.
His prediction came true so soon that his Philippine lawyer Sheilla San Diego had to go through extra procedures before visiting him on Friday, and found him in the isolation cell.
“He was a bit tired and emotional,” Lisa Tam Sin-man, a core member of the Tang Lung-wai Incident Concern Group, formed by his friends and supporters, said, quoting San Diego.
Tang sent the group a message, asking it to seek help from the British embassy in the Philippines. Tang holds a British National (Overseas) passport, which were granted to Hong Kong residents during colonial rule.