UK calls on Hong Kong to stop targeting tycoon Jimmy Lai

LONDON: British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called on authorities in Hong Kong to stop targeting Jimmy Lai on Monday (Dec 14) after the democracy activist and media tycoon was charged under the city's national security law.

"The Hong Kong National Security Law breaches the internationally-binding Joint Declaration, and is now being used to charge Jimmy Lai," Raab said.

READ: Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai charged under national security law

"This highlights the authorities' continued attacks on the rights and freedoms of its people," he added.

"We have raised this case with the authorities in Hong Kong and call on them to end their targeting of Lai and other pro-democracy voices."

Lai, 73, was charged on Dec 11 "with one count of 'collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security'". 

READ: Hong Kong security law: Hailed by China loyalists, decried by the West

The owner of Hong Kong's best-selling Apple Daily is the most high profile person charged under the sweeping new law. It comes as authorities intensify a crackdown on opposition forces that has seen lawmakers dismissed and high-profile democracy activists such as Joshua Wong jailed.

The security law has been condemned by the West and human rights groups as a tool to crush dissent. Authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing say it is vital to plug gaping holes in national security defences exposed by months of sometimes violent protests that rocked the city over the last year.