Jimmy Lai’s Son Urges UK to Secure Father’s Release from Hong Kong Prison

Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, CEO of Next Digital Media Group, was sentenced to jail for five years and nine months for breaching a commercial leasing contract. The sentencing and appointed national security judge, Chan Kwong-chi, was heavily criticized after the verdict. The public speculated that Lai's case was only a part of political persecution by the regime. (Song Bilong/The Epoch Times)

Sebastien Lai, together and his international legal team, are lobbying for the British Government to intervene and secure the release of his father, Jimmy Lai. The former Next Media founder and Apple Daily CEO has been in a Hong Kong prison for two years, mostly without bail.

The Hong Kong National Security Law continues to wrap tightly around the former CEO Jimmy Lai. Lai was arrested and charged with “collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security,” and the Hong Kong National Security Bureau closed down all operations of Lai’s newsgroup and froze his assets in 2021.

On a separate charge, Jimmy Lai was also found guilty of “lease fraud” (for breaching a condition in Apple Daily’s rental contract, usually a civil case settled with fines) and given a heavy-handed sentence of almost six years in prison, which was met with shock and criticism from Hongkongers and the international community.

Meeting with Minister Trevelyan from British Foreign Office

Sebastien Lai met the U.K.’s Minister of State for Indo-Pacific Affairs, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, on Jan. 10. He also later met with other British lawmakers, including Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former leader of the Conservative Party, Baroness Helena Kennedy KC (Labor), Lord (David) Alton (Liberal Democrat), and Natalie Bennett (The Greens).

https://twitter.com/DavidAltonHL/status/1613154651934785536

Sebastien Lai, told Sky News that he was happy things were moving in the right direction but continued to urge the British government to do more, to push Hong Kong for the release of his father as soon as possible. The “meeting Trevelyn was only a first step,” he said.

After Sebastien Lai’s meeting, at 11:42 p.m. that same day, the Hong Kong government issued a Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-style condemnation saying they “firmly opposed and condemned Jimmy Lai’s legal team and the British government’s intent to undermine the rule of law in Hong Kong and interfere with Hong Kong’s judicial independence.”

UK Criticized For Inaction

In an exclusive interview with Sky News, Sebastien Lai compared the U.K. with the United States, bluntly criticizing how the British government has done next to nothing to help a British citizen who holds only a British passport. In contrast, the U.S. government regularly advocated for Jimmy Lai and for democracy in Hong Kong.

Lai said, “the British government did not speak out about my father’s ‘fraud’ charges at all. My father’s verdict violates the rule of law. It is absolutely ridiculous to sentence a person to nearly six years in a case that society would consider only a civil dispute.”

Duncan Smith commented on Sky News that the British government is too scared to rock the boat and disturb its relationship with the CCP. In his view, that is the reason the British government is dragging its feet.

Hong Kong Could not Have ‘Business As Usual’

During Sky New’s exclusive interview broadcast on Jan. 14, Sebastien Lai revealed that he had not seen his father since the former Apple Daily CEO’s imprisonment over concerns of being arrested if he set foot in Hong Kong.

Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, a member of Lai’s international legal team, and a specialist in human rights and civil liberties stressed in the interview that she believes the U.K. government can do many things, such as emphasizing its bilateral relationships with China and Hong Kong, that while a prisoner of conscience remains behind bars, the Hong Kong authorities would not be able to “continue to have business as usual.”

Rishi Sunak Responds

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that he had met with Sebastien Lai recently when he answered Duncan Smith’s question in Parliament on Jan. 11.

Sunak described Jimmy Lai’s case as a critical issue and vowed the country would be “robust in standing up to what it believed to be Chinese (communist regime) aggression” and would resist the “undermining of the (50-year) settlement (referring to the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1985) that we fought so hard to achieve.”

Jimmy Lai’s international legal team has written to Sunak, requesting a meeting, emphasizing Lai’s case as being “deeply concerning” and “emblematic” of British values. A spokesperson for the British Prime Minister responded by saying that the British government will always support rights, freedoms, and the rule of law.

CCP mouthpiece media, The Global Times, responded to Sunak, saying, “with the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong to China in 1997, the Sino-British Joint Declaration as a ‘historical document,’ is no longer of any real significance.”

The state media also “warned” that Sebastien Lai’s recent actions “would only backfire if he wanted to free his father” and would be self-incriminating proof against Jimmy Lai on “collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.”

British Governments Latest Report on Hong Kong

The British government’s latest semiannual report on Hong Kong, released on Jan. 12, condemned the CCP for weakening the freedoms it promised to the Hong Kong people. In the report, the British government reiterated that Beijing violated the 1997 Hong Kong handover agreement.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly criticized Beijing for systematically eroding the city’s freedoms, stating that the Hong Kong government has continuously suppressed freedom of expression, press freedom, and the right to assemble.

Most independent news media in Hong Kong have been forced to close down. Individuals and civil groups are now living in a self-censorship era, fearful of violating the National Security Law, Cleverly said.

Facing Life Imprisonment

When questioned if there were concerns that the international “#FreeJimmyLai” campaign would cause harm against Jimmy Lai’s trial, Gallagher clarified that nothing could get worse as the 75-year-old faced life imprisonment in the upcoming trial in September. Her team could only do their best to shift the outcome.

Serious convictions for breaking Hong Kong’s National Security Law attract penalties from ten years to life imprisonment. Without effective international pressure, Jimmy Lai could spend the rest of his life in prison.