[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 159 (Friday, September 29, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E915]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





   MARKING THE 1000TH DAY OF JIMMY LAI'S IMPRISONMENT BY THE CHINESE 
                               GOVERNMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JAMIE RASKIN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 29, 2023

  Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, this week marked the one thousandth day of 
imprisonment of one of Hong Kong's 1,648 political prisoners: Jimmy 
Lai, a hugely successful businessman, owner of Hong Kong's major 
newspaper, and a freedom fighter for the people of Hong Kong. His 
``crimes'' that have landed him in a maximum-security prison at age 75? 
Supporting pro-democracy protests and publishing the truth about the 
Chinese Communist Party's creeping authoritarian takeover of Hong Kong.
  I have begun the process of adopting his case as a ``prisoner of 
conscience'' with the Tom Lantos Commission on Human Rights and I urge 
all colleagues, Democrats and Republicans alike, to adopt a political 
prisoner, a religious prisoner or some other prisoner of conscience in 
this time of terrifying global crackdown on human rights and free 
expression.
  Jimmy Lai recognized that a free press that reports the facts is 
essential to democracy and a free society. He founded one of Hong 
Kong's most reputable papers in 1991, Apple Daily, in reference to the 
Garden of Eden's fruit of knowledge. One of the paper's original mottos 
was ``an apple a day keeps the liars away.'' Jimmy Lai's newspaper 
continued to report the facts as Hong Kong citizens from all walks of 
life--led by thousands of courageous young people--demonstrated for 
their freedom and against Beijing's repressive ``National Security 
Law'' in 2019.
  It is for this principled defense of truth and common sense in a 
civil society that Mr. Lai has been unjustly detained by China's 
authoritarian expansion into the free city of Hong Kong. According to 
the Hong Kong Democracy Council, a human rights organization, Jimmy Lai 
is one of 1,648 Hong Kongers who are political prisoners today. This 
staggering number--reached after just four years--puts the once-free 
Hong Kong on the same plane as countries like Belarus and Myanmar. 
Everyday Hong Kongers who dared to dream of a democratic future are 
instead languishing in detention. They await trial and sentencing 
before a hyper-politicized judiciary executing a twisted facsimile of 
Hong Kong's traditionally independent, common law court system.
  Jimmy Lai was first arrested in August 2020 as one of the first 
targets of the repressive ''National Security Law'' imposed by mainland 
China. He has since been arrested numerous times, charged with 
everything from collusion with foreign powers, to so-called 
``unauthorized assembly,'' to alleged fraud. Many of his fellow 
political prisoners in Hong Kong face charges that are similar affronts 
to a free society.
  The reactionary movement against democracy is global, which is why 
our movement to defend democracy is also global. I salute the 
courageous activists, like Jimmy Lai, who refuse to bend to the brutal 
forces of fear and authoritarianism. Whether they live in Washington, 
D.C. or Hong Kong or Moscow or Kyiv, everyone should have the right to 
determine their own destiny. I stand here today on the floor of the 
U.S. House of Representatives in solidarity with Jimmy Lai as he marks 
his one thousand and first day as a political prisoner. Please join me 
in acting in solidarity with Jimmy Lai and demand his immediate release 
and freedom from the Chinese government.

                          ____________________