Just Saying | Howard Lam kidnap case is Hong Kong’s version of Jussie Smollett fiasco, only more cringeworthy
- Yonden Lhatoo says the city’s leading opposition politicians should be ashamed and apologise, now that their story about a colleague being kidnapped and tortured by Beijing agents has turned out to be fake news
So it turns out Democratic Party stalwart Howard Lam Tsz-kin told a crock of lies about being kidnapped from a busy Hong Kong street in broad daylight and tortured by mainland Chinese agents operating beyond their jurisdiction.
They all stood behind Lam at that cringeworthy press conference they called in August 2017, telling the world in grim-faced outrage: “Look what China is doing to dissidents in Hong Kong.”
Rather than rush him to a doctor or report such a heinous crime to police first, the most respected legal professionals from the opposition camp chose to stage a media circus instead, with Lam at the centre baring his legs to display the wounds from staples that he claimed his torturers had punched into his thighs in neat little cross shapes.
Now a court has sentenced him to five months in prison for knowingly making a false report to police, although he’s out on bail pending an appeal, unrepentant and still protesting his innocence.
Police had to conduct one of their most laborious investigations to prove in court that it was all a hoax – 7,000 man-hours at a cost of HK$1 million in just the first month of investigation, and one officer taking four months to review up to 1,800 hours of security camera footage from shops and buildings across four districts.
