A group of Catholic bishops has signed a letter calling on civil authorities in Hong Kong to release a prominent Catholic campaigner and businessman incarcerated for his “pro-democracy” stance.
The letter, which contained signatures from ten prelates, including two cardinals, from the UK, US, Lithuania, Nigeria and India, among others, demanded the release of Jimmy Lai, a prominent and successful Catholic layman, who is a known vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Jimmy Lai, 75, is a high-profile supporter of the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement, a writer, publisher, and owner of Apple Daily, once Hong Kong’s most popular independent Chinese-language newspaper, now forcibly closed by the authorities. He has been repeatedly targeted by the Chinese Communist Party and the Hong Kong SAR authorities since 1990 when he launched his media company, with a pro-democracy and anti-corruption focus.
