Bookseller Lam Wing-kee Flees HK Over Fugitive Law

Causeway Bay bookseller Lam Wing-kee, who was abducted by mainland agents in 2015 before returning to Hong Kong the following year, has now fled the territory over fears he will be extradited to the mainland.

Lam, who left for Taiwan on Thursday, said he couldn't risk remaining in the SAR due to the government's plans to allow case-by-case renditions of wanted people to any jurisdiction in the world – including the mainland.

Speaking to RTHK's "Hong Kong Connection", Lam said he had personal experience of how the mainland's legal system operates.

"[The authorities] used a fake courtroom to shoot some videos, they found a fake policewoman to be a witness. I experienced all this first-hand," Lam told the programme, which is to be aired on Monday.

"How can I trust the so-called evidence provided by the mainland authorities?"

Council Front lawmaker Claudia Mo saw Lam off at the airport. She said she assumes he has received assistance from the Taiwanese authorities.

"Mr Lam did tell me in what capacity he's going to stay in Taiwan. But without his actual consent, I don't particularly want to delve into that," Mo said.

"Mr Lam's departure from Hong Kong is nothing impromptu and nothing out of the blue. His departure has gone through thorough considerations, I understand. More than a month ago he decided to leave."

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said Lam had arrived on the island "to discuss work issues" and has so far been given permission to stay for a month. The council said he could apply for permanent residency in accordance with the law.

Speaking to the AFP news agency on Friday, Lam said Hong Kong is not safe for him anymore.

He said he was "enjoying the air of freedom and reading some free books" and is currently in talks to open a bookstore on the island.

After being allowed to return to Hong Kong in June 2016 to collect "evidence" for mainland officials, Lam decided not to comply, and instead sensationally revealed how he had been kidnapped by mainland security officials at the Shenzhen border eight months before, and then held in secret detention in the Zhejiang city of Ningbo.

Four of his colleagues – Lee Bo, Gui Minhai, Lui Bo and Cheung Ji-ping – had also disappeared the same year and they also eventually resurfaced on the mainland.

Gui is still in detention, having been released but then snatched again in January 2018 while travelling on a mainland train accompanied by two Swedish diplomats.

The publishers' bookstore in Causeway Bay sold items critical of Communist Party leaders and there have been claims that the men sold some of their books on the mainland itself.