Ex-HK bookseller Lam Wing-kee, detained by China in 2015, dies in Taiwan at 70
Lam was one of five people from Causeway Bay Books who disappeared in 2015. He later detailed his detention by Chinese authorities. (Image credit: Kin Cheung)
Lam was one of five people from Causeway Bay Books who disappeared in 2015. He later detailed his detention by Chinese authorities.
(Image credit: Kin Cheung)
FILE - Freed Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee stands next to a placard with a picture of missing bookseller Gui Minhai, left, in front of his book store during a march in Hong Kong on June 18, 2016. Kin Cheung/AP hide caption
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Lam Wing-kee, a former Hong Kong bookseller who became a symbol of resistance to Beijing's crackdown on speech freedom after he was seized by Chinese authorities in late 2015, has died in Taiwan, the island's official Central News Agency reported, citing an unnamed source.
The news agency didn't give a cause of death, but said the 70-year-old Lam had a cancer relapse last year and was admitted to MacKay Memorial Hospital in Taipei on Tuesday. He fell into a coma on Wednesday and died Thursday evening, according to the report.
Lam, who previously worked at Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong, moved to Taipei in 2019 over fears of legal troubles and reopened the bookstore under the same name in the Taiwanese capital in 2020.
Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te offered his condolences in a Facebook post.
"The passing of Mr Lam Wing-kee is deeply saddening, but the courage he left behind would not fade," Lai wrote. "Taiwan will remember that a Hong Kong bookstore worker once told us in the most ordinary yet most steadfast way how precious freedom is and reminded us that democracy requires the efforts of generation after generation to defend it."