The UN Secretary-General has highlighted the reprisals against Jimmy Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai, and their international legal team in his report to the Human Rights Council on ‘Cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights’. Jimmy Lai and Sebastien Lai are represented by an international legal team led by Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, and including Jonathan Price, Tatyana Eatwell, Jennifer Robinson and Clare Wisson.
The Secretary-General’s annual report was instituted in response to ongoing intimidation and reprisals against those engaging with the UN human rights system. The Human Rights Council has “condemned all acts of intimidation and reprisal committed by Governments and non-State actors.” The Secretary-General’s annual report was presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva last night, and States and civil society continue to discuss the issues at the Council today.
China and HKSAR Targeting Sebastien Lai and International Legal Team
The report raised concerns over China’s targeting of individuals and organisations co-operating with the United Nations, and the fear this engenders. It noted that “multiple United Nations actors” had raised such concerns, and a number of human rights mechanisms have as a result explicitly sought assurances that there would be no intimidation or reprisals for cooperation with their respective mechanisms. The Secretary-General’s report focused upon and raised concerns regarding the reprisals against Sebastien Lai and the international legal team for their UN advocacy on his case. The reprisals referred to in the report occurred after Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC and Jennifer Robinson addressed the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council about Mr Lai’s case on 14th March 2023. Both raised concern about the broad terms of the National Security Law and its abuse against journalists and pro-democracy campaigners, and the criminalisation of those exercising their internationally protected rights to free speech. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) responded by issuing a public statement, which stated the government:
“…strongly disapproved and firmly opposed the acts of the so-called ‘international legal team’ for Mr Lai and his son Sebastien Lai, and those of Sebastian Lai himself, to scandalise the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL) and the judicial system of the HKSAR, and to abuse the United Nations mechanisms by soliciting the United Nations Human Rights Council to interfere in the judicial proceedings of Lai Chee-ying’s case concerning the NSL.”
The Hong Kong government statement went further to state that engaging with the UN in this manner was “very likely” to amount to obstruction of justice or contempt of court.
Again, at the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council in June 2023 when Sebastien Lai and another member of the international legal team, Tatyana Eatwell, addressed the Council, the Government of the HKSAR released a statement criticising them for engaging with the UN and threatening that addressing the Council is “very likely to constitute the offence of criminal contempt of court or the offence of perverting the course of justice”.
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