President calls for immediate release of Jimmy Lai

Taipei, Feb. 10 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) on Tuesday called for the immediate release of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英), who was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison on a charge of breaching Hong Kong's national security law, echoing similar demands by the international community.

"Taiwan stands with Mr. Jimmy Lai and all the people who safeguard freedom," the president wrote in a social media post. "We hereby again urge Beijing to immediately release Mr. Jimmy Lai and stop pursuing political persecution under the false pretext of enforcing the law."

The Hong Kong High Court on Monday handed 78-year-old Lai, founder of the pro-democracy media outlet Next Digital, a 20-year jail term for "colluding with foreign forces" under the Hong Kong national security law.

"The ruling again proves that Beijing's so-called 'one country, two systems' scheme exists in name only, and that the judiciary has been degraded to a tool for depriving personal freedom and curtailing freedom of speech and press freedom," President Lai wrote.

Hailing Lai as a long-time advocate for freedom and democracy, the president said the tycoon's detention was Beijing's attempt to create a chilling effect among dissidents and poses a grave threat to the universal values espoused by the international community.

The silencing of Lai, he noted, is also a violation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984, which promised that the civil liberties of Hong Kong residents -- such as freedom of speech, assembly, and religion -- would be protected and remain unchanged for 50 years following the territory's handover from the United Kingdom to China in 1997.

President Lai's call echoed similar demands from the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and the European Union a day earlier.

In his statement on Monday, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the sentence "unjust and tragic" and urged the Hong Kong authorities to grant Jimmy Lai "humanitarian parole."

Lai has been detained by the Hong Kong authorities for more than five years, and adjudication of his case took more than two years.