Tim Cheung (@TimCheung)

"A 77-year-old #British #citizen has been in prison for almost four years. He has spent much of it in solitary confinement. His #health has deteriorated: #diabetes worsened, heart palpitations treated. His alleged crime? Criticising his government. No – not in Sir #KeirStarmer’s #Britain, though many might raise an eyebrow at the thought. This is #XiJinping’s #China. The man is #JimmyLai. The #trial of Lai – founder of #AppleDaily, #HongKong’s most prominent pro-democracy #newspaper – concluded closing arguments last week...his supposed offence being to report on Beijing’s assault on liberty during the 2019 protests and to call on the international community to hold China to account. In other words: #journalism. Also known as: the lifeblood of any free society. It is almost certain he will be found guilty. The National Security Law ( #NSL), passed in 2020, criminalises previously lawful acts of dissent...where is Britain? Where is the voice of the country that once guaranteed #HongKong’s #freedoms and whose citizen is now facing life in prison for standing by them? We have heard the usual ministerial murmurings of concern. We have been told that 'the case has been raised'. Meanwhile, the Government seems unwilling to stop Beijing from constructing its gargantuan embassy complex in central London – a project better described as a surveillance fortress. The Prime Minister refuses to list China as a threat on the Enhanced Tier of the #ForeignInfluence #Register. The Foreign Secretary, once a great orator against Beijing’s crimes, has now retreated into virtual #silence: whether on the plight of the #Uighur #Muslims, #Taiwan or #Chagos. This is not #diplomacy. It is #appeasement. The contrast with past efforts is stark. #Britain fought, lobbied, and eventually negotiated to bring Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe home from #Iran. Other #Westernnations have secured the release of their citizens from Chinese jails. Yet for Jimmy Lai – a British #passport-holder, a man whose only '#crime' is to believe in the principles Britain once taught Hong Kong – there is inertia. Strange, given that our Government is headed up by one former human rights barrister, Starmer and supported by his close friend from chambers, the Attorney General, Lord Hermer. For all their zealousness over human rights, why so silent now...If Britain will not raise its voice for liberty now, then when? https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1241465708023413&set=ecnf.100064799856517 The question is brutally simple: will #Starmer and his Attorney General rediscover their principles and use them to save a British life? Or will they allow themselves to become the diplomatic errand boys of a regime that fears nothing more than the sound of free men speaking? The Chinese #Communist Party or Jimmy Lai. It’s time to choose. I know whose side I’m on. But does this Government?" #FreeJimmyLai