Moolenaar, Krishnamoorthi, CECC Chairs Urge Concrete Action to Address Mistreatment of Political Prisoners in Hong Kong
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- This week, a bipartisan group of legislators urged Secretary of State Blinken to issue a report on prison conditions in Hong Kong and take additional diplomatic steps to address reported instances of torture and mistreatment of political prisoners.
The letter was signed by Representatives John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Representative Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Chair and Cochair, respectively of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China and the United States.
The letter raises concerns about the treatment of Jimmy Lai, including solitary confinement, restricted access to sunlight, and the denial of independent medical care, and also cites concerning reports about physical and sexual abuse taking place in at least one juvenile detention facility. The letter asks the State Department to brief Congress on prison conditions and its efforts to hold Hong Kong government officials accountable for carrying out torture and arbitrary detention.
Background: The Select Committee and CECC Chairs have urged the Biden Administration to sanction police, judges and prosecutors for their role in the arbitrary detention of Hong Kong democracy and rights activists, particularly in National Security Law cases. The Department of the Treasury last issued financial sanctions for Hong Kong officials in August 2020.
The State Department imposed visa restrictions on unnamed Hong Kong officials responsible for the crackdown on rights and freedoms in March, 2024.
The Chairs also urge swift passage of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act (H.R. 1103 / S. 490) which passed overwhelmingly in the House and awaits Senate action. The legislation would give the President the authority to strip the immunities and privileges granted to the three Hong Kong government diplomatic outposts in the United States, which reportedly engage in the surveillance of Hong Kong democracy advocates in the United States.
Click HERE to read the letter or read the text of the letter below.
We are writing to express our concern about the health, welfare, and human rights of political prisoners in Hong Kong. We have received testimony from lawyers, friends, and family of political prisoners, indicating that they face torture, mistreatment, poor food, extreme heat, denial of religious materials, and the inability to file complaints about their treatment. We request that the Consul General in Hong Kong seek to evaluate prison conditions and determine whether Hong Kong is violating its laws and international human rights obligations relating to prison conditions. We further ask that the Department brief us on prison conditions in Hong Kong, U.S. efforts to gain the release of political prisoners, and actions taken by the U.S. Government to hold the Hong Kong government accountable for carrying out arbitrary detention.
We also urge you to call on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk to hold an urgent discussion on the human rights situation in Hong Kong at the U.N. Human Rights Council, as requested by over 50 U.N. independent human rights experts more than four years ago. We ask that U.S. diplomatic representatives in Geneva work with like-minded countries to shine a bright light on the deteriorating rights and rule of law environment in Hong Kong and press the High Commissioner to investigate conditions in Hong Kong and seek access by relevant Special Rapporteurs to Hong Kong prisons and political prisoners.
Our concern about prison conditions was in part piqued by the recent case of Owen Chow and his lawyer. Chow received additional jail time for trying to deliver through his lawyer an ombudsman complaint concerning the destruction of books on Buddhism sent to him from his family. The prosecution charged that Chow had circumvented the procedure requiring that prison officials screen outgoing materials. Chow’s lawyer Phyllis Woo was named as a co-defendant and was ultimately fined.
The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners require penal institutions to provide inmates and their legal counsel an unimpeded complaint process that ensures confidentiality and prompt resolution, standards that are reflected in Hong Kong’s Prison Ordinance. These safeguards are either disregarded or not implemented in Hong Kong, and penalties are meted out for simply trying to raise religious freedom concerns.
The Hong Kong authorities’ attempt to prevent the outflow of information is deeply troubling, especially for prisoners like Jimmy Lai and other prisoners with age-related health concerns. Lai, for example, has been subjected to prolonged detention in solitary confinement for over three and a half years, including restricted access to sunlight, and has been denied independent medical care. Younger political prisoners also face acute risks that go unreported, as we have gathered evidence that prison officials mistreat and torture younger prisoners to send a message to Hong Kong's youth about their political activism.
A recent article reported credible allegations that physical and sexual abuse took place in at least one juvenile detention facility.1 Former detainees at the facility reported that prison guards would carry out abuses, sometimes using inmates as proxies, by means including sexual assault, beating, slapping, and hitting palms and soles with a metal ruler. One alleged victim of sodomy required hospitalization, and a beating victim attempted suicide.
Prison guards and their proxies reportedly exploited security camera blind spots to carry out these crimes, and victims were reluctant to report them because they feared reprisal. According to the article, this fear of reprisal is why Justices of the Peace, individuals appointed by the government to visit custodial institutions or detained persons, have failed to document or ameliorate the torture and rights abuse occurring in Hong Kong’s prisons.
We believe that independent investigations and more diplomatic efforts, in Hong Kong, Washington, and Geneva, are urgently needed as the Hong Kong government is covering up mistreatment, torture, and rights abuse targeting detained political prisoners. We will continue to monitor the situation and work with a growing network of parliamentarians—from Africa, South America, East Asia, the Middle East, and Europe—all concerned with the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to erode human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong and globally.
We look forward to working with you on these matters and look forward to the requested briefing.