Husband of ex-Hong Kong lawmaker who admitted subversion says he did not back bid by UK politicians to win her release from remand
- Claudia Mo’s husband says he was not ‘notified … or consulted’ before UK figures appealed to Hong Kong to release her from custody on compassionate grounds
- Philip Bowring adds Mo had never considered applying for bail after he ended up in intensive care with pneumonia
The husband of former Hong Kong opposition lawmaker Claudia Mo Man-ching has said he did not endorse an appeal by more than 50 British politicians to the UK government to press authorities in the Asian financial hub for her release so she could visit him in hospital.
Philip Bowring, in a note released by the family on Sunday, said he left intensive care three weeks ago and had been discharged from hospital.
“I have not in any way been notified, contacted or consulted by UK-based parliamentarians or NGOs with regards to their recent statement, nor do I endorse it,” the veteran journalist, who is British, said.
“My wife, Claudia Mo Man-ching, has never applied, nor at any point considered applying for bail, in light of the circumstances.”
Mo is among 47 opposition figures involved in a national security trial, with the group accused of trying to win a majority in the Legislative Council in 2020 in a bid to paralyse the government by blocking budgets and other legislation.
The former lawmaker, who has been remanded in custody for more than two years, earlier pleaded guilty along with another 30 defendants to a charge of conspiracy to subvert state power, but is still to be sentenced.
Bowring was said to have pneumonia and placed in intensive care, which prompted 54 British politicians and public figures to sign a letter that urged London to assist the 47 opposition camp members.