Bill McGurn, the chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush from June 2006 until February 2008, has used The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) as a platform to plead former media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's innocence.

McGurn joined the ranks of China bashers as soon as Lai was arrested on fraud, sedition and subversion charges.

In his latest onslaught against Hong Kong, McGurn called for the release of Lai in exchange for the US lifting sanctions against Hong Kong. How naive he was in calling for the unconditional release of a person facing criminal charges tantamount to treason in exchange for lifting foreign sanctions! So McGurn now appoints himself as an international deal maker! He also claims that Hong Kong made a mistake in putting Lai on trial.

Lai’s trial, which has lasted some 90 days to date, was adjourned in August to reopen in November for Lai to present his case. Almost every day during the trial, the foreign media criticized the proceedings as a “show trial” without any action being taken against them. Usually, such acts that interfere with legal proceedings would be deemed contempt of court.

McGurn was also a speechwriter for media mogul Rupert Murdoch, but he now lives in his own little bubble, mingling with world decision-makers, hoping that some of their talents will rub off on him. They haven’t.

He made a personal attack on Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, falsely accusing him of chucking people in jail for singing a song, Glory to Hong Kong. He also said Hong Kong officials were too invested in their portrayal of Lai as Carlos the Jackal “to admit they made a huge mistake putting him on trial”.

In his op-ed piece, The Man Who Is Hong Kong, McGurn noted that Lai had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Big deal. Dozens are nominated for the prize each year, but only a few, worthy of its status, are given the award to continue with their achievements.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, obviously outraged by McGurn’s outburst, caused Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan Kwok-ki to write to the editor of the WSJ saying the piece was “totally flawed, misleading, amounting to smear and slander”. He concluded that “suggestions that certain persons should be immune from legal sanctions for their illegal acts or be pardoned due to any political motives are totally contrary to the spirit of the rule of law”.

Chan is undoubtedly correct. What proof do McGurn and others in the media have without hearing all of the evidence of the case? It is doubtful if they listened to any of the evidence and simply made their comments on the hearsay of others, which, as experienced journalists, they should know better. Or perhaps they are sticking to an old journalistic adage “not to let facts get in the way of a good story”. However, their actions have brought the press into disrepute, which is already in tatters due to a new style of writing biased reports that fit their political beliefs.

Lai is being tried for subversion and sedition-related charges, which are very serious charges in the United States and United Kingdom, where the main critics of Hong Kong reside.

But the foreign media maintains that he is innocent even though he was quoted on US flagship broadcaster CNN that “we in Hong Kong are fighting for the shared values of the US against China. We are fighting their (US) war in the enemy camp”. He made the public comments in July 2019 after meeting with then-US vice president Mike Pence, then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo, and then-national security advisor John Bolton. He later told CNN that the then-US president Donald Trump was the only person who could “save Hong Kong from China”.

According to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs report released on Aug 9, the US’ National Endowment for Democracy nominated Lai for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize.

But regardless of what the Western media pleads or what Western politicians and human rights groups say to sway the HKSAR government to release Lai, the courts of Hong Kong are independent and will pay no attention to the aspirations of the critics of the HKSAR administration and Judiciary and will base their rulings solely on the evidence presented to them. Lai is, after all, innocent until proven guilty.

The author is a former information coordinator of the HKSAR government and a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong &Macao Studies.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.