U.K. Calls Bookseller Case `Breach' of Hong Kong's Autonomy
- Information indicates Lee `involuntarily removed' to China
- HK government: Reports of involuntary removal 'speculative'
People take part of the rally to protest the disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers on Jan. 10. Lee Bo, a British citizen, was reported missing in December and the Hong Kong immigration service has no record of him leaving the city, fanning suspicion he was sequestered by mainland authorities
Photographer: Lam Yik Fei/Getty ImagesThe U.K. government suspects that bookseller Lee Bo was “involuntarily removed” from Hong Kong to mainland China, in what it called a threat to the city’s autonomy.
“The full facts of the case remain unclear, but our current information indicates that Mr. Lee was involuntarily removed to the mainland without any due process under” Hong Kong law, U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond wrote in a biannual report on the former British colony submitted to Parliament in London.