The bespectacled Lam, who appeared exhausted after deliberating for two days on whether to go public, said the case had “clearly violated Hong Kong’s rights”, and that he needed to speak out no matter what the risks to his personal safety or that of his mainland Chinese girlfriend.
Advertisement
Several dozen people marched Friday morning to Beijing’s liaison office to vent their anger after Lam Wing-kee’s testimony about his harrowing ordeal.
Following British rule, Hong Kong was turned over to Beijing under a “one country, two systems” arrangement settled in 1997.
Two days after quietly returning home and asking local police to drop their missing person investigation into his case, the 61-year-old Hongkonger was defiant, breaking a silence that had been maintained by three of his colleagues who were earlier allowed to leave by mainland authorities.
China today attempted to deflect global criticism over the kidnapping and torture of a Hong Kong bookseller by Chinese police for eight months by mounting a sharp attack on CIA’s brutal interrogation techniques in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks. All were involved in sales of books about the Chinese Communist party leadership that mainland tourists often buy when they visit Hong Kong.
“It took me much courage and two sleepless nights to consider, but I chose to share the whole story with you, and tell the whole world that this incident is not only about myself or the bookstore, it’s about the core values that Hong Kong people need to safeguard”.
Rights group Amnesty International slammed China’s treatment of the booksellers, saying Lam had confirmed what many had suspected.
One of the five Hong Kong booksellers who went missing late a year ago has provided an explosive account of his detention and mistreatment by Chinese authorities in the case widely regarded as the most serious violation of Hong Kong’s autonomy by Beijing since its handover from British rule.
“If they don’t, then they’re not our Government”. Also we are attaching great importance to protecting and safeguarding the freedom and safety of Hong Kong citizens as well. “But this is no longer about me or Causeway Bay Bookstore, but about the bottom line of what Hong Kong can accept”. “They gave me the script”.
He was held for more than eight months and forced to give scripted confessions on TV over selling banned books, he said.
Pro-democracy lawmakers accused Hong Kong authorities of failing to help the booksellers and called on them to ensure Lam is now kept safe after his decision to speak out.
Booksellers Lui Por and Cheung Chi-ping, who also went missing in Shenzhen and Dongguan respectively, had returned to Hong Kong but went back to the mainland soon after.
Lam vowed to stay in Hong Kong, saying he has no plan to emigrate or seek political asylum elsewhere, although he confessed that he dare not and will not set foot in the mainland again.
Accompanied by lawmaker Albert Ho Chun-yan at the press conference, Lam told reporters that he could not understand what law he may have violated, as it was legal in Hong Kong to send books to the mainland.
“They wanted to know who was buying the books and stuff like that”, Lam said, adding that he heard that his case was being handled directly by a special task force set up by the central government in Beijing.
According to SCMP, Lam claimed that his public confession broadcast on Phoenix Television had been staged. “We don’t need to argue over it”, said Lam.
Lee’s case caused the most outcry because he was the only bookseller who disappeared on Hong Kong soil, prompting allegations that Chinese enforcement agents were operating illegally in the city. “He has completely ruined the image of Hong Kong’s men”.
Lam Wing-kee was one of five booksellers associated with Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong who suddenly disappeared in October 2015.
Advertisement
Only one of the five, Swedish passport holder Gui Minhai, remains in detention in China.
