Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The upcoming Human Rights Council session is going to be looking at four topics which are relevant to what we've talked about today. The most important ones are probably torture and counterterrorism, but there's also the special rapporteur on peaceful assembly who's also giving his annual report and the special rapporteur on human rights defenders, who is looking at the issue of transnational repression of critics of authoritarian states and the long arm of the state reaching out in the way that we've seen China doing.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you. The first thing we would say is that with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Canada can support that in writing to, and making a filing with, that working group to raise concerns that Jimmy Lai is arbitrarily detained. That's something that we would welcome and would ask for support with.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much. Thank you for raising Maria Ressa. Maria Ressa is my client. She's a Nobel Peace Prize winner in the Philippines who has been targeted for speaking truth to power. Her case has many overlaps with Jimmy Lai's. What we see in those two cases is not just the targeting of one individual journalist but also the attempt to shut down entire media ecosystems or networks—Apple Daily in the case of Hong Kong and Rappler in the Philippines.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm a great believer in the phrase “sunlight is the best disinfectant”. I think highlighting this is a tactic in itself and is very important. I'm very grateful to the subcommittee for doing that today. You, yourselves, can use your parliamentary power to highlight this in a press release or in other ways: S.O. 31s, resolutions, motions and so on.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We can answer.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I am going to offer, as we're in touch with him directly on text, that perhaps my colleague can send him a message with the question, if you'd like us to do that. We're happy to add something, but if you want to use your time to direct.... Okay. I suppose the first thing to say is we think that Jimmy Lai's name should be on every Canadian ambassador's lips around the world whenever they're engaging with China.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you for the question. I really support what's just been said by Ms. Leung about how serious this is. Sébastien and we, as the legal team, have faced a range of threats. When Sébastien dared to address the United Nations last year, he was interrupted by China. A formal statement was then put out about him and our team from the Hong Kong authorities.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes. I can give more detail afterwards. In short, we're waiting for a response from the working group on arbitrary detention, who had already raised concerns directly with China last year. We've had four special rapporteurs call for Jimmy Lai's release. That's quite an unprecedented statement.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much for the question. All too often what we see with political prisoners is that they have to fight a battle on two fronts. They have to fight a battle with the country that's detaining them, but they also have to wade through treacle to get their own government to speak out for them.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  May I return to you on the sanctions issue separately afterwards? I'll have to take instructions.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Could I add something on the question about what more Canada could do? We entirely support the comments made by Ms. Leung. I would say there are three key things. The first is, of course, that the Canadian government can and should call—unequivocally—for Jimmy Lai's immediate release.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  First of all, may I thank you personally for the moral clarity and leadership you showed in relation to the unanimous consent motion in December? We're extremely grateful to you and to all the others who showed such leadership on that issue. To give a very practical example, the two resolutions of both Houses in the Canadian Parliament before Christmas directly resulted in our then having, for the very first time, the opportunity for Sébastien and for us to meet with the U.K.'

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Could I add to that, too? Thank you. I suppose the first thing to say is that the decline in media freedom in Hong Kong has been very rapid and very precipitous. If you look, for example, at the tables from Reporters Without Borders, we see that 10 years ago, Hong Kong was bastion of free speech in the region and very high on the tables.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I apologize. I didn't see the one-minute notice. As the UN special rapporteur on torture made clear last week...she raised grave concerns regarding Jimmy Lai's trial because there are credible and publicly known allegations that one of the prosecution's key witnesses, Andy Li, was tortured in mainland China, and that his testimony against Jimmy Lai was coerced.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I lead the international legal team for Jimmy Lai and for his son, Sébastien Lai, whom you've just heard from. I work along with my colleague, Jonathan Price, who's here today with me. It's often said that journalists don't want to ever become the story, but Jimmy Lai has become the story, and it's one that the world needs to hear.