Statement calls lack of information about their well-being and whereabouts ‘extremely worrying’
YINGKIT.LAI@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Friday, 08 January, 2016, 10:29am
UPDATED : Friday, 08 January, 2016, 11:24am
The European Union statement on the missing booksellers noted that respect for freedom of expression underpins all free societies. Photos: AP, Sam Tsang
The European Union has urged authorities in the mainland, Hong Kong and Thailand to investigate and clarify the mysterious disappearances of five Hong Kong booksellers.
In a statement issued late on Thursday, the EU said the continuing lack of information about the well-being and whereabouts of the booksellers was “extremely worrying”.
The five – Lee Bo, Gui Minhai, Lui Bo, Cheung Ji-ping and Lam Wing-kei – are associated with Mighty Current publishing house and Causeway Bay Books, a bookstore which it runs. They sell books critical of the Chinese Communist Party.
READ MORE: Police mobilise in neighbourhood where missing Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo was last seen
The five have gone missing separately since October. The latest incident involved Lee, who was last seen in Mighty Current’s Chai Wan warehouse on December 30.
As Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has stated, it would be a violation of the Basic Law if, as media allege, mainland law enforcement agencies had been operating in Hong Kong.
THE EU STATEMENT ISSUED ON THURSDAY
Gui went missing while on holiday in Pattaya, Thailand in mid-October and Cheung, Lui and Lam went missing later that month while visiting the mainland.
Clues about their whereabouts are scant, except for a handwritten letter said to have been faxed by Lee to his colleagues. In the letter, recognised by Lee’s wife as genuine, the bookseller said he had gone to the mainland on his own way and was assisting in an investigation.
There has been speculation that the five were detained in the mainland because of their publishing business and that Lee was dragged across the border by mainland agents.
The EU statement said: “As Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has stated, it would be a violation of the Basic Law if, as media allege, mainland law enforcement agencies had been operating in Hong Kong.”
“This would be inconsistent with the ‘one country, two systems’ principle.”
It added that respect for freedom of expression underpins all free societies.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1898997/vanishing-hong-kong-booksellers-extremely-worrying-says-eu
