By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-20 14:51:09 | Updated at 2025-03-21 04:29:24
13 hours ago
A Hong Kong government spokesperson has warned external parties not to intervene in the ongoing trial of Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said getting the former media tycoon out of prison was a “priority”.
The spokesperson said on Thursday evening that any countries, organisations or people trying to hamper a fair trial in Hong Kong’s judicial processes would be damaging the city’s rule of law.
“Advocating for some people or organisations of a certain background to be free from the consequences of their illegal acts is equivalent to bestowing them the privilege to offend the law, which completely contravenes the spirit of the rule of law,” the spokesman said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told conservative podcast host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday that getting Lai, the former owner of the now-defunct tabloid newspaper Apple Daily, out of prison “needs to happen”.
“We’ve raised it in every possible form and they know that it’s important to us, and I think there are countries as well that are very involved in raising this issue. And that needs to happen, and we’re going to continue to raise it,” Rubio told Hewitt.
