Latest news with #SebastienLai
Telegraph
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Braverman calls for release of Jimmy Lai after meeting with son
Suella Braverman has called on China to immediately release Jimmy Lai, the imprisoned Hong Kong businessman, after meeting his son in Westminster. The former home secretary criticised his ongoing detention as she accused the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of behaving like a 'gangster regime crushing free speech'. Mrs Braverman also said the UK Government's approach towards China was 'incoherently dangerous' and claimed it was 'kowtowing' to Beijing. Mr Lai, who founded Hong Kong's popular newspaper Apple Daily and media company Next Digital, has been a British national since 1996. Following the meeting, his son Sebastien Lai said: 'As my 77-year-old father faces another brutal Hong Kong summer in a concrete cell, I urge the UK Government and all parliamentarians to do more to secure his immediate and unconditional release. 'My father is a man of extraordinary courage and principle. Someone we are proud to be able to call a British citizen. It's time for his Government to honour his bravery by standing up for the values we all share and demanding his freedom before it is too late. The time for fine words is over – we need urgent action.' A prominent critic of the CCP, Mr Lai was arrested in August 2020 by Hong Kong police on charges of violating the territory's new national security law. He was further charged with fraud and organising illegal protests. The businessman has been in prison for more than four years and is currently being held in solitary confinement. 'Weak, inconsistent and submissive' Mrs Braverman said: 'Jimmy Lai's continued detention is an international outrage. He is behind bars not for any crime, but for his unflinching commitment to freedom, democracy and the truth. Now, it is time for the UK parliament to unite and stand up for him, just as he stood up for our shared values. 'The CCP is behaving like a gangster regime, threatening democracy, crushing free speech and waging a sustained assault on political dissent. 'From the genocide of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang to the suppression of journalists and opponents, we are witnessing the CCP trample on the very principles of the international rules-based order. We've seen this dark path before in history and we must not look away in silence.' She added: 'If the Prime Minister still held the convictions of a human rights lawyer, I have no doubt he would be acting on behalf of the Lai family. Why the silence now? 'This Government's approach to China is incoherently dangerous, complacent, weak, inconsistent and submissive. Whether it's approving a Chinese spy-centre in the heart of London, appeasement over the Chagos Islands, or the failure to list China on the enhanced tier of the foreign influence registration scheme (FIRS), Labour continues to kowtow to Beijing. 'The Foreign Secretary once said he would stand up to China. Now is the time to prove it.'
The Independent
04-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Keir Starmer urged to push for Jimmy Lai's release as marathon cross-examination finally ends
Prime minister Keir Starmer has been urged to press for British citizen Jimmy Lai's immediate release over his failing health inside a Hong Kong prison. The 77-year-old pro-democracy campaigner and founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper on Monday denied allegations of requesting the US to sanction China for imposing a security law as prosecutors wrapped up their 24-day-long cross examination. The media tycoon is facing the prospect of life in prison if found guilty of sedition and collusion with foreign powers under the city's national security law. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His son, Sebastien Lai, told Sky News that he has written to Sir Keir asking for a meeting with the prime minister over his father's condition. Mr Lai suffers from diabetes and has lost a significant amount of weight, his son said, adding that his father has been kept in solitary confinement since 2021. Mr Lai has been denied independent medical care and is allowed out of his cell for 50 minutes a day, according to his lawyers and media reports. Although Sir Keir has previously raised Mr Lai's case with Chinese president Xi Jinping, Sebastien Lai claims the prime minister needs to urgently push for his father's release. "He's still strong mentally and spiritually," he told the broadcaster. "But he's in the body of a 77-year-old, and it's just one of those situations where we can't wait." Sebastien Lai argued that his father's case was a "litmus test" for the British government and a meeting with Mr Keir would show that No 10 was treating the media tycoon's case with "utmost priority". "It would take less than three hours for them to put him on a plane and send him back home to the UK," he said. "So if they're not even willing to do something like this in such a clear-cut case, where he might very well die in jail, then what else can we expect from them?" he asked. On the 50th day of the marathon trial, the prosecution in Hong Kong flagged an exchange between Lai and his aide Mark Simon a day after Donald Trump during his first presidency abolished Hong Kong's special status in 2020. In that exchange on Signal app, Mr Simon relayed a question from Mary Kissel, a senior adviser to then US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, to understand Mr Lai's position on US-Hong Kong relations. Mr Lai told the court that his reply revealed his thinking at that time and denied the suggestion that he wished the US suspension of Hong Kong's special status would last, Hong Kong Free Press reported. While he admitted that Mr Simon would relay the message to the White House, but argued it didn't constitute a direct request for Washington to impose sanctions. 'I was asked a question, and I answered the question,' he told the court. In his reply to Mr Simon, the defendant had written: "I said that it's not necessary to revoke the special status of HK because with national security law HK is finished anyway. The point is not HK (Hong Kong) but China. Sanction China as to stop it from clamping down on HK." Mr Lai said he was hoping for protection of human rights in Hong Kong and denied urging the US to engage in hostile activities against mainland China. 'I think that… freedom and human rights are, you know, a birthright for us,' he said. 'It's just very logical for me to suggest that.' He further denied all allegations of conspiracies as 'totally rubbish', which he claimed the prosecutors 'just made it up'.
Sky News
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Jimmy Lai's son urges Sir Keir Starmer to push Hong Kong for Briton's immediate release
Pro-democracy campaigner and British citizen Jimmy Lai might die in a Hong Kong prison, his son has told Sky News as he urges Sir Keir Starmer to push for his immediate release. Sebastien Lai told Wilfred Frost on Sky News Breakfast his 77-year-old father's health is deteriorating quickly as he continues to testify in a trial where he is accused of breaking Hong Kong's national security laws, imposed by Beijing in 2020. He has been in solitary confinement in jail in Hong Kong since 2021 as he awaited the trial for "conspiracy to collude with foreign forces", which was delayed by three years before starting in December 2023. The current UK government said it has urged China to release him during visits to Beijing to seek closer relations, but Sebastien Lai said the situation is now urgent. "He's still strong mentally and spiritually," Sebastien Lai said. "But he's in the body of a 77-year-old, and it's just one of those situations where we can't wait." Jimmy Lai, who has diabetes, has lost a significant amount of weight and has appeared increasingly frail at his trial. His legal team said he has been denied independent medical care, is only allowed out of his cell for 50 minutes a day and, as a devout Catholic, has been denied the Eucharist. Sebastien Lai delivered a letter to 10 Downing Street on Monday morning, asking for a meeting with Sir Keir to get his father, who has only ever had a British passport, released immediately. He said his father's case is a "litmus test" for the government to see if it will stand up to China for a British citizen who is in jail "for peaceful campaigning and journalism". "It would take less than three hours for them to put him on a plane and send him back home to the UK," he said. "So if they're not even willing to do something like this in such a clear-cut case, where he might very well die in jail, then what else can we expect from them? "I mean, how can we expect an even or fair relationship with a country that's not even willing to release one of our citizens from very blatant persecution?" He added that a meeting with Sir Keir would show the Hong Kong government Jimmy Lai's case is being treated "with the utmost priority, to show they can't keep mistreating my father the way they've been doing". 2:35 Sebastien Lai said the Hong Kong government has been keeping his father, who has diabetes, in such awful conditions "because they believe they could get away with it". Jimmy Lai's case is a major sticking point in the government's relations with China, with Sir Keir saying securing his release is a "priority" - while trying to revive trade relations with Beijing. The billionaire, who owned the pro-democracy paper Apple Daily and was a familiar face during the 2019 protests, has given his testimony for 48 days in Hong Kong, with 22 of those facing cross-examination by government lawyers. He is expected to continue his testimony this week but his son said he does not know how long the case will go on for.
Voice of America
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai's 'time is running out,' son says
As pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai spoke in his defense at a Hong Kong court Tuesday, his son Sebastien Lai was in Geneva calling for the United States and other world leaders to help secure this father's release. Speaking on Tuesday at the latest hearing in his national security trial, Lai, 77, denied any intention to incite violence among protesters. He defended an opinion piece published in 2019 in the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper that he founded in which he suggested that pro-democracy protesters establish a leadership structure to weed out those who wished to engage in violence during protests that year. 'By saying they should choose a leadership group, [it means that] they should put down some principle or bottom line for the valiant acts which, basically, is for them to stop the violence,' Lai said in court. The British national has been standing trial for more than a year on charges of collusion with foreign forces and sedition under Hong Kong's national security law. Lai rejects the charges, which foreign governments and press freedom groups have said are politically motivated. Hong Kong authorities deny that the trial is unfair and have previously told VOA that the government respects press freedom and the rule of law. Lai has been in solitary confinement since late 2020. Sebastien Lai raised concerns about his father's health as he advocated for him in Geneva. 'I ask that you join my call to free Jimmy Lai and champion him for all he's given in the hope of freedom,' the younger Lai said Monday at the annual Human Rights and Democracy summit in Geneva. When Beijing's national security law was enacted in Hong Kong in 2020, Sebastien Lai said his father knew he would be a target. 'But he refused to leave,' he said. 'Six decades after landing on the shore of this island in pursuit of freedom, he decided to stay and stand with his fellow protesters.' Jimmy Lai was born in Guangzhou, China, and fled to Hong Kong when he was 12. He worked in a garment sweatshop before eventually founding the successful clothing brand Giordano. He later moved into media, founding Apple Daily in 1995. Both the United States and Britain have criticized Hong Kong's case against him. During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump in October said he would '100%' get Lai released, without specifying details. Sebestien Lai said Trump's comment gave the family 'a lot of hope.' But he cautioned that time is running out for his father, who has diabetes. The publisher's international legal team says he isn't receiving adequate medical care, which authorities deny. 'His body is breaking down,' Sebastien Lai told Reuters ahead of the summit. 'Time is running out for my father.' Lai's international legal team urged global leaders to stand up for press freedom at the U.N. Human Rights Council next week. 'How the world responds will send a vital message to authoritarians across the world,' Caoilfhionn Gallagher, head of Lai's international legal team, told Reuters. Gallagher and her team at the London law firm Doughty Street Chambers have faced significant harassment for their role defending Lai. On social media and in email, Gallagher has faced threats of death, rape and dismemberment, The Guardian reported. She has also been targeted with hundreds of attempts to hack her bank account. The Bar Council, the representative body for barristers in England and Wales, expressed concern about the harassment. Some information in this report came from Reuters.
