LI-CALD statement: We cannot allow this conviction to mark the end of Hong Kong

LI-CALD statement: We cannot allow this conviction to mark the end of Hong Kong

02/04/2021

The conviction* by a Hong Kong court on Thursday 1st April 2021 of Liberal International (LI) individual member and Prize for Freedom laureate, Martin Lee along with other pro-democracy leaders, has sent shockwaves through democracies around the world.

With 82 year-old Mr Lee, Hong Kong’s “father of democracy”, facing five years imprisonment, the LI bureau and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) recognise this act of judicial brutality as a ruthless and calculated tipping point in China’s barefaced annexation of the Special Administrative Region.

That the Chinese-backed authorities have abused the very legal system, designed to protect the people of Hong Kong and which Mr Lee has spent a lifetime strengthening as a lawyer and politician, in the presence of international diplomats is contemptible.

We know that the people of Hong Kong harbour a tireless democratic spirit and we stand with them and will fight for the democratic principles and policies stated in Hong Kong’s Basic Law and the Sino-British Joint Declaration.

Beijing needs to understand. They have crossed a line and we will not let this go.

*Mr Lee was arrested for his supposed participation in what the court described as “unauthorized assembly” in the peaceful pro-democracy protests of 2019.

LI Bureau condemns Ortega’s bid to end democratic elections in Nicaragua

24/07/2026

Liberal International bureau strongly condemns President Daniel Ortega's declaration that there will be "no more elections" for Nicaragua's democratic opposition and the legislative measures that would effectively abolish meaningful democratic elections in the country. Together, these actions make clear the Ortega-Murillo regime's intention to extinguish any remaining prospect of a peaceful democratic transition and entrench one-party authoritarian rule, moving Nicaragua closer to the model of a single-party state such as Cuba.

Nicaragua's Democratic Crisis

LI Human Rights Committee calls for dialogue amid crackdown on India’s youth protest

20/07/2026

Liberal International's Human Rights Committee is following with concern the ongoing developments in New Delhi, where members and supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), India's youth-led anti-incumbency movement, have organised a march to Parliament calling for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan following the NEET examination paper leak, which affected more than two million students, and broader concerns over accountability in the education system.

India's Youth Protests

LI HRC Statement on Discrimination, and the Conduct of Senator Celeste Amarilla

07/07/2026

Liberal International Human Rights Committee (LI HRC) is deeply shocked by the racist comments made by Senator Celeste Amarilla against a French footballer Kylian Mbappé, as well as by her threat to pursue legal action against him

Human Rights Committee