75-year-old Jimmy Lai, the founder and publisher of Apple Daily magazine, is in custody and charged with crimes against national security. The newspaper was forced to close in 2021 after Hong Kong authorities froze the newspaper's assets.
"By attacking this 75-year-old press freedom fighter, the Chinese regime has tried to control the flow of information beyond its borders, making it a matter for the whole world. When press freedom is threatened in one place, it is threatened everywhere.", write the signatories of the petition, which consists of publishers from all over the world.
"If one country cracks down on journalists, we can see that it has a chain reaction in other countries," said Samuel Ogundipe, editor-in-chief of the People's Gazette in Nigeria and one of the signatories of the petition.
"A general challenge"
There are currently 13 journalists imprisoned in Hong Kong. In 2020, mainland China introduced a new security law that, according to the Swedish government, "criminalizes separatist and subversive activities, as well as terrorism and association with foreign powers." This has had far-reaching consequences for freedom of expression in the country.
"It's a general challenge around the world for those of us who work with the media, with countries where it can be very difficult to work as a journalist," says Samuel Ogundipe.
He himself was arrested in Nigeria when he refused to release his sources, but was later released. Ogundipe is also on Amnesty's list of journalists at risk of arrest.
"We can identify with Jimmy Lai's situation, but also with the situation in Hong Kong for journalists in general," he says.