Lam Wing‑kee was admitted to Taipei’s Mackay Memorial Hospital on Tuesday and lapsed into a coma before his death late Thursday, according to the South China Morning Post and local media reports.
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching‑te expressed “deep sorrow” over Lam’s death in a Facebook post, offering condolences to his family and friends.
His life bore witness to the value of freedom of expression, as well as the fear and suffering caused by authoritarian repression.
He chose not to stay silent; instead, he reopened Causeway Bay Books in Taiwan, turning it into a gathering place where Hong Kong friends could speak freely and support one another, Taiwan’s leader added.
In his final BBC interview last year, Lam told BBC Witness History, “Everyone has their own values. You can’t go against your values, nor can you betray others. If you believe something is right, you should continue to stick to it. It’s not like you’re harming anyone. If everyone could do that, this would of course be a better place.”
In 2015 he was arrested during a visit to mainland China and detained for more than 400 days.
He was one of several bookshop owners and staff who disappeared and were later revealed to have been held by Chinese authorities, part of a broader crackdown on shops in the former British colony that sold works critical of China’s leaders.
A televised confession, he claimed, was staged and scripted.
His case intensified concerns over China’s growing encroachment on Hong Kong’s freedoms, fears that culminated in the 2019 mass protests in the city, a special administrative region of China since 1997.
