EU Parliament backs sanctions against Hong Kong officials over Jimmy Lai trial

The European Parliament has overwhelmingly backed a resolution calling for sanctions on Hong Kong officials and for the city’s special trade status to be revoked in protest of former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s conviction in a national security trial.At the plenary session in Strasbourg, France, on Thursday, 503 parliament members voted in favour of the non-binding resolution, with only nine voting against it. There were 100 abstentions.Lai, the 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid, is awaiting sentencing and could face life imprisonment after being convicted last month of two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiracy to print seditious articles.Thursday’s joint motion, which was co-sponsored by 59 members, condemned Lai’s conviction “in the strongest terms” while calling for his immediate and unconditional release, alongside “all other individuals [in Hong Kong] detained for exercising their freedoms, including religious and democratic rights”.Imprisoning Lai for life would bring “severe consequences to EU-China relations”, the resolution said.The resolution reiterated a previous call for European Union member states to suspend extradition treaties with mainland China and Hong Kong, in addition to calling for the European Commission to initiate the suspension of the city’s status under the World Trade Organization (WTO).