Press freedom group says consultant denied entry to Hong Kong | Freedom of the Press Information

Reporters With out Borders says advocacy officer detained for six hours earlier than being deported.

A consultant for Reporters With out Borders (RSF) was denied entry to Hong Kong after being detained for six hours, searched and questioned, the press freedom organisation has stated.

Aleksandra Bielakowska, an advocacy officer primarily based in Taiwan, was refused entry and deported on Wednesday after travelling to town to watch the trial of media tycoon Jimmy Lai, RSF stated in an announcement.

Rebecca Vincent, RSF’s director of campaigns, stated the group was “appalled” on the remedy of their colleague.

“We’ve got by no means skilled such blatant efforts by authorities to evade scrutiny of courtroom proceedings in any nation, which additional highlights the ludicrous nature of the case in opposition to Jimmy Lai, and the dire erosion of press freedom and the rule of regulation in Hong Kong,” Vincent stated.

“We demand an instantaneous rationalization from the Hong Kong Particular Administrative Area and a assure that our representatives can return to the territory safely to observe the rest of Lai’s trial, which can’t happen in darkness. The world should know what is going on in Hong Kong, which has implications for world press freedom.”

Hong Kong’s immigration division didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Lai, the founding father of the shuttered Apple Each day pro-democracy tabloid, has been on trial since February on prices introduced underneath a sweeping nationwide safety regulation imposed by Beijing in 2020.

The 76-year-old writer’s prosecution has been broadly condemned by rights teams as a mark of town’s declining rights and freedoms underneath Beijing’s tightening management of the previous British colony.

Hong Kong final month handed extra nationwide safety laws concentrating on vaguely-defined offences of treason, rebellion, espionage, sabotage and exterior interference, in a transfer broadly anticipated to additional slender the area for dissent.

Hong Kong, as soon as identified for having one of many freest media landscapes in Asia, has severely curtailed the work of journalists lately.

Moreover Apple Each day, pro-democracy shops Stand Information and Residents’ Radio had been compelled to close down amid the nationwide safety crackdown.

Radio Free Asia, which is part-funded by the US authorities, final month introduced the closure of its Hong Kong workplace, citing considerations for the security of its employees.

In RSF’s 2023 press freedom index, Hong Kong ranked one hundred and fortieth out of 180 international locations and territories, down from 73 in 2019.