Overseas politicians such as Canada’s Irwin Cotler and UK’s Iain Duncan Smith demand Hong Kong court call them as witnesses in Jimmy Lai’s trial
- Seventeen Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) lawmakers say they have been mentioned at least 50 times in evidence since start of trial
- Members being mentioned in court but not being invited to respond in Hong Kong ‘profoundly undermines the integrity of this entire process’, IPAC says
Politicians from nine countries have asked to be called as “fact witnesses” in the Hong Kong national security trial of media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and insisted they should have been invited to give testimony after they were named in the proceedings.
The 17 lawmaker members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), including Irwin Cotler, a former attorney general in Canada, Iain Duncan Smith, an ex-leader of the UK Conservative Party, and Gen Nakatani, a former defence minister of Japan, said they had been mentioned at least 50 times in the trial since it began last December.
In a letter, dated Monday and seen by the Post, IPAC claimed it had “evidence of clear probative value” that should be considered “essential to providing complete information to the court”.
“The fact that members of IPAC have been mentioned dozens of times in court, and yet haven’t been asked for statements or responses by any of the authorities in Hong Kong profoundly undermines the integrity of this entire process,” the letter said.
“The fact that IPAC as ‘witnesses’ or ‘accomplices’ to an alleged crime have never been approached by the Hong Kong authorities is revelatory of the degree to which the integrity of this trial is in question,” Luke de Pulford, IPAC’s executive director, said.
“If the court really wants the truth, the Department of Justice will accept our evidence.”
The alliance emphasised that the evidence it wanted to give was factual, non-prejudicial and aimed at “elucidating context relevant to events discussed in proceedings.”
“We would put forward a witness capable of representing IPAC with first-hand knowledge of the events cited in court, or, should the court wish, several individuals,” the letter said.
Hong Kong’s Department of Justice declined to comment on the case, citing the ongoing legal proceedings.
IPAC, established in 2020, is made up of more than 250 lawmakers from 34 legislative and parliamentary bodies, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, European Union member states and New Zealand.
The organisation was set up to give coordinated responses to China on global trade, security and human rights.
It has spoken out in support of Lai, as well as 47 opposition figures accused of conspiracy to subvert state power, another landmark national security law case.
Among the 17 co-signatories, at least six are known to have been sanctioned by Beijing, including Smith, UK Conservative MP Robert Seely and European Parliament members Miriam Lexmann and Reinhard Butikofer.
Beijing condemned IPAC earlier this year for what is said were false claims against China and denigration of its policies on Hong Kong and the two pieces of national security legislation, the Beijing-imposed 2020 law and the city’s Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, passed in March.
