Hong Kong hits back after 10 overseas Catholic leaders attack ‘persecution’ of tycoon Jimmy Lai

Government says petition ‘misleading and slanderous’ and accuses clerics of undermining rule of law and interfering in city’s affairs

Move came after 10 senior Catholic churchmen from eight countries signed petition calling for Lai’s release ‘immediately and unconditionally’

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An international group of senior Catholic churchmen have signed a petition calling for the release of tycoon Jimmy Lai. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 10:38pm, 9 Nov 2023Updated: 8:02pm, 10 Nov 2023

A petition from 10 overseas Catholic Church leaders that called for the release of Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying from jail has been slammed by the city’s government.

Authorities said the petition was “misleading and slanderous” and accused the clerics of “blatantly undermining” the city’s rule of law and of meddling in Hong Kong’s affairs.

“The government firmly rejects and strongly disapproves of the fact-twisting remarks made by the foreign Catholic leaders to inappropriately interfere in Hong Kong’s internal affairs and the courts’ independent exercise of judicial power,” a spokesman said.

“Any person, regardless of his or her identity, who attempts to interfere with the judicial proceedings in Hong Kong in order to procure a defendant’s evasion of the criminal justice process, is blatantly undermining the rule of law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.”

A police officer stands guard as colleagues raid the offices of Jimmy Lai’s Apple Daily newspaper in 2020. Photo: Winson Wong

Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok also weighed in on Friday, saying the attempt to interfere with Hong Kong’s judicial system completely violated the fundamental spirit of the rule of law and was “absolutely unacceptable in principle”.