Lam was taken to Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei on Tuesday and later fell into a coma, the South China Morning Post reported, citing local media. He died late Thursday.

In a Facebook post, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te wrote that he was “deeply saddened” by Lam’s death and sent condolences to her family and friends.

Lam’s life “witnessed the value of freedom of expression and the fear and suffering inflicted by authoritarian repression.

“He chose not to remain silent. Instead, he reopened Causeway Bay Books in Taiwan, making it a place where Hong Kong friends could meet, talk and support each other,” Taiwan’s leader added.

Last year, Lam told BBC Witness History: “Everyone has their own values. You can’t go against your values ​​or betray others.

“If you think 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,” Lam said, in what was her last interview with the BBC.

In 2015, he was arrested during a visit to mainland China and held for more than 400 days.

He was one of several bookstore owners and employees who disappeared and were later found to have been detained by Chinese authorities, as part of a crackdown on bookstores in the former British colony that sold publications critical of China’s leaders.

A confession broadcast on Chinese television was, he said, staged and acted out according to a script.

His case fueled fears of a growing encroachment on Hong Kong’s freedoms by China, fears that led to months-long mass protests in 2019 in Hong Kong, China’s special administrative region since 1997.