[
Reporters With out Borders says the advocacy officer was detained for six hours earlier than being deported.
A consultant of Reporters With out Borders (RSF) was denied entry to Hong Kong after being detained for questioning and looked for six hours, the press freedom group stated.
Aleksandra Bialkowska, an advocacy officer based mostly in Taiwan, was refused entry on Wednesday after touring to town to look at the trial of media tycoon Jimmy Lai, RSF stated in an announcement.
RSF's campaigns director Rebecca Vincent stated the group was “appalled” by the therapy of its colleague.
“We’ve by no means skilled such blatant efforts by the authorities to keep away from investigation of courtroom proceedings in any nation, which displays the ridiculous nature of the case in opposition to Jimmy Lai and the intense erosion of press freedom and the rule of regulation in Hong Kong.” exposes.” Vincent stated.
“We demand fast clarification from the Hong Kong Particular Administrative Area and ensures that our representatives can safely return to the territory to supervise the rest of Lai's trial, which can’t happen at midnight. The world must know what is occurring in Hong Kong, which is impacting 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 beneath a sweeping nationwide safety regulation imposed by Beijing in 2020.
The prosecution of the 76-year-old writer has been extensively condemned by rights teams as an emblem of town's declining rights and freedoms beneath Beijing's tightening management over the previous British colony.
Hong Kong final month additional narrowed the house for dissent by passing a home regulation concentrating on vaguely outlined crimes corresponding to treason, riot, espionage, subversion and exterior interference.
Hong Kong, as soon as referred to as one of many freest media landscapes in Asia, has seen a pointy decline in working house for journalists lately.
Along with Apple Each day, native pro-democracy shops Stand Information and Residents Radio have been compelled to shut amid the nationwide safety crackdown.
Radio Free Asia, which is partly funded by the US authorities, introduced final month the closure of its Hong Kong workplace, citing issues for the protection of its workers.
In its 2023 rating of press freedom, Hong Kong is ranked a hundred and fortieth out of 180 nations and territories, up from 73rd in 2019.