China beating up on 76 year old Hong Kong activist Jimmy Lai

 

from PEN Canada member email today #FreeJimmyLai His trial resumes tomorrow in Hong Kong. Jimmy Lai, a journalist, writer, media publisher, and pro-democracy activist, has been in solitary confinement since December 2020.   PEN believes that Lai’s ongoing detention is emblematic of the devastating impact the 2020 National Security Law (NSL) has had on freedom of expression across Hong Kong. His case is illustrative of the government’s willingness to use the legal system to silence dissent. Tomorrow his trial resumes. The charges he faces—including two under the NSL—could result in life imprisonment.  Madeleine Thien writes to Jimmy Lai Madeleine Thien is the author of four books, most recently Do Not Say We Have Nothing, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Folio Prize, and won the Governor-General’s Literary Award for Fiction, among other honours. For PEN's Day of the Imprisoned Writer campaign, she wrote a letter to Lai. It reads in part:    "You became what the government called, with all the force of its contempt and violence, a troublemaker. We both know that, in China, as in many other places today, a troublemaker must be publicly shamed and paraded so that others will choose silence; so that others will, out of fear, relinquish the moral world within themselves. This moral life is their only true possession, for it is their character, their selfhood, and their legacy; to lose it is to denude oneself."   HER FULL LETTER TO LAI Write your own letter Take action for these four imprisoned writers. A letter of solidarity encourages their spirit, reconnects them with the outside world, and is often long-remembered after release.  PEN will send the letter on your behalf. You have until November 29 to write alongside us. Take inspiration from these letters from renowned authors and PEN members:  Margaret Atwood to Jimmy Lai Viv Groskop to Alaa Abd el-Fattah Gioconda Belli to Jose Rubén Zamora Marroquín Elif Shafak to Kaciaryna Andrejeva SUBMIT YOUR LETTER HERE Join the call to #FreeJimmyLai Time is not on our side: Lai is 76 years old, in solitary confinement, diabetic, and will face trial tomorrow.  Spread the word on socials (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn) using the hashtag #FreeJimmyLai alongside this image:  NEW: UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention finds Jimmy Lai is unlawfully and arbitrarily detained and calls for his immediate release Last week, the UNWGAD concluded, in relation to all of the cases Mr. Lai has faced since August 2020, and continues to face, Mr. Lai’s detention is unlawful and arbitrary.   Accordingly, the Working Group calls on the Hong Kong government to: immediately release Mr. Lai; take steps to remedy Mr. Lai’s situation without delay; accord Mr. Lai an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations; and conduct a full and independent investigation into Mr. Lai’s arbitrary and unlawful detention and take appropriate measures against those responsible for the violation of his rights. MORE ON THE FINDING ICYMI: Son of imprisoned Jimmy Lai pleads with Canada to put pressure on Hong Kong to show mercy STORY IN NATIONAL POST SUPPORT PEN JOIN PEN Copyright © 2024 PEN Canada, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up for the PEN Canada mailing list and/or are a member of PEN Canada. Thank you! Our mailing address is: PEN Canada 401 Richmond St W Suite 244 Toronto, ON M5V 3A8 Canada Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

Jimmy Lai, jailed 76 year old Hong Kong publisher/democracy activist

 I'm a member of PEN Canada. This post is from today's newsletter.  Like Jimmy Lai I'm also 76 years old, and I sure can't imagine being in solitary confinement for four years.

#FreeJimmyLai

Jimmy Lai is the recipient of the 2024 PEN Canada One Humanity Award Jimmy Lai, a journalist, writer, media publisher, and pro-democracy activist, has won PEN Canada’s One Humanity Award. He has been in solitary confinement since December 2020, and is currently facing a potential life sentence for his journalism in Hong Kong.   The 76-year old writer and UK citizen has been targeted for his journalism and pro-democracy activism. He was the owner of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, once regarded as Hong Kong’s most prolific pro-democracy news outlet. PEN believes that Lai’s ongoing detention is emblematic of the devastating impact the 2020 National Security Law (NSL) has had on freedom of expression across Hong Kong. His case is illustrative of the government’s willingness to use the legal system to silence dissent. The One Humanity Award, established in 2006, is given to a writer whose work transcends the boundaries of national divides and inspires connections across cultures.   MORE ON HIS CASE "He knew that he was doing the right thing"  Last week on PBS News Hour, speaking alongside Lai's international legal team member Caoilfhionn Gallagher, his son Sebastian Lai said: "My father has been campaigning for democracy for the last 30 years, and he always had a way out, as in he could always just retire, go to London. And he decided to make the hard decision to stay in Hong Kong to campaign for what he knows is right. And when the hammer came down, when the national security law came down, he knew that, if he left, he would open his journalists up to attacks from the government. And so he decided to stay, to act as a shield." WATCH PBS NEWS HOUR Press: Son of imprisoned Jimmy Lai pleads with Canada to put pressure on Hong Kong to show mercy STORY IN NATIONAL POST Join the call to #FreeJimmyLai Time is not on our side: Lai is 76 years old, in solitary confinement, diabetic, and facing a trial date in two months. Spread the word with us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, using the hashtag #FreeJimmyLai.

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Copyright © 2024 PEN Canada, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up for the PEN Canada mailing list and/or are a member of PEN Canada. Thank you! Our mailing address is: PEN Canada 401 Richmond St W Suite 244 Toronto, ON M5V 3A8 Canada Add us to your address book

I was an imprisoned Canadian poet for one day in 1975

 

NOVEMBER 2023 NEWSLETTER
TODAY IS DAY OF THE IMPRISONED WRITER

 

  

Every year, on November 15, PEN calls for urgent international action to protect writers and journalists across the globe, who increasingly find themselves targeted for peaceful dissent.

This year, PEN calls for urgent international action on behalf of María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez, Go Sherab Gyatso, Iryna Danylovych, and Soulaiman Raissouni.

Your voice matters. Take action:
Send a letter of solidarity to the imprisoned writer
Appeal to their governments and embassies
Post with #ImprisonedWriter on social media
Please take action with us between November 15 and 22.

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Above is from the PEN Canada (Poets, Essayists, Novelists) newsletter yesterday. I'm a member, but my one day of imprisonment in a Canadian jail was luckily more comedy than the usual tragedy experienced by imprisoned writers.  I believe I was the first person arrested under the then new Canadian"hate laws". Of course wearing a bright yellow tee shirt emblazoned YANKEE GO HOME was a politikal act, not a hate crime. The nationalist political group The Canadian Liberation Movement successfully  fought my  charges all the way to the Supreme Court of Ontario. The judge even reprimanded the testifying officer that he was close to giving false testimony. Here's the poem:

Dominion Day in Jail

(Celebration 1975)


I spent last Dominion Day in jail
in a cold cell
on a steel bench -
cold, sleepless angry and proud
tho almost wanting to feel foolish.

Fed a cheeseburger and a coffee in 24 hours
fingerprinted
stripped of my shirt
frogmarched - mugshot
insulted.

All of this for the patriotic crime
of daring to say Yankee Go Home!
to theYankee Shriners
parading through downtown Toronto.
They thought it was the 4th of July (Canada Division)

Cold, sleepless hungry angry
              Proud
that I was cold, sleepless hungry angry
and not enjoying theJuly sun
lounging on the green grass in Queen's Park
or lining the parade route for the Shriners.
This growing pride made my solitary jail cell
a celebration of Dominion Day.


from my self-published chapbook Dominion Day in Jail
Unfinished Monument Press,  Toronto, 1975
printing by Muskox Press