One of five Hong Kong booksellers who disappeared last year has said he was abducted by Chinese agents and held incommunicado for eight months before being released on Tuesday.
At a press conference in Hong Kong, Lam Wing-kee, the 61-year-old former manager of Causeway Bay Books, accused Beijing of violating his rights and freedoms granted to Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
“This is not just about me, it is about freedom of speech for everyone in Hong Kong,” he said, as he claimed mainland security agents had detained him and his four colleagues for publishing books that were critical of China’s top leaders. “If this could happen to me it could happen to anyone.”