The Chinese government has been urged to end the “barbaric” detention of ailing pro-democracy media tycoon and British citizen Jimmy Lai before it is too late as he prepares to learn his fate.
The frail 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper could face life in prison when he is sentenced on national security charges in Hong Kong on Monday in a case that has drawn condemnation from across the world.
Mr Lai, an outspoken critic of China’s ruling Communist Party, was found guilty in December in what has been criticised as a “sham trial”, widely viewed as an indicator of the decline of press freedom in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
The activist was arrested in 2020 under the national security law, which Beijing claimed was necessary for the city’s stability after anti-government protests the previous year – a move that has been condemned as draconian.
Now, on the eve of his sentencing, his son Sebastien Lai told The Independent: “We are under no illusions: this is not justice, it is political persecution. My father has been persecuted by the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities for speaking truth to power.
“In December, he was convicted of crimes that amount to nothing more than public interest journalism and peaceful pro-democracy campaigning. On Monday, he is likely to be sentenced to prison for the rest of his life.”
The ordeal has included over five years in solitary confinement, in what Sebastien Lai has described as “brutal conditions few could survive”, claiming he has been left to swelter in a concrete cell, with his window covered to deny him fresh air and sunlight.
This has come “at enormous cost to his health”, he said, which has seen his diabetic father lose a significant amount of weight, with his teeth rotting and nails falling out.
He added: “I urge the UK prime minister to do whatever it takes to bring my father home, and save his life. If Beijing is not willing to do that, how will anyone in the UK feel safe?”
British politicians from across the political spectrum have also demanded his release.
Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper told The Independent: “The world will be watching when British national Jimmy Lai is sentenced on Monday. His politically motivated prosecution under Beijing’s national security law undermines the rights and freedoms promised to Hong Kong and its people.
“Jimmy’s case remains a priority for this government and the prime minister, which is why he raised it with President Xi during his recent visit to China. We will continue to call for Mr Lai’s immediate release and for access to all necessary medical treatment.”
Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith told The Independent he was a peaceful democracy campaigner against whom China had used “trumped-up charges”, as he warned his sentence “could lead to him remaining in prison until his life ends”.
“This is a tragedy, it’s a travesty, and this man should have the full support of the free world, with the demand that he is set free and to be with his family again,” he said.
“It’s worth noting that as a British citizen, he has not been allowed to have access to the consulate, which is his international law right, and he has not been allowed to see his family. He is suffering. He is an ill man. And I hope and pray that their Chinese government finally realises that this bit of barbarity should now end and he will be released,” he added.
Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti said: “There comes a point when we have exhausted our arguments for rights and freedoms and so plead instead for simple mercy. Surely the court will understand that this 78-year-old is no danger to anyone and there’s nothing that becomes a judge as well as mercy does?”
Sir Keir Starmer raised Mr Lai’s case with Chinese president Xi Jinping on his recent visit to China after mounting pressure to do so, but he failed to secure his release.
The foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, told The Independent: “The world will be watching when British national Jimmy Lai is sentenced on Monday. His politically motivated prosecution under Beijing’s National Security Law undermines the rights and freedoms promised to Hong Kong and its people.
“Jimmy’s case remains a priority for this government and the prime minister, which is why he raised it with President Xi during his recent visit to China. We will continue to call for Mr Lai’s immediate release and for access to all necessary medical treatment.”
Kerry Moscogiuri, interim chief executiveof the human rights charity Amnesty International UK, called for Mr Lai to be released immediately and unconditionally and have all of his criminal convictions expunged, adding: “No one should be prosecuted solely for exercising their human rights.”
He has been imprisoned as a result of a “sham trial and draconian laws that have sought to crush freedoms in Hong Kong, transforming it from a city of tolerance and open debate into a city of repression and self-censorship”, she said.
She described his case as “an attack on press freedom and freedom of expression from the very start” and said it was “deeply worrying that any more time behind bars could mean life given his age and state of health”.
Benedict Rogers, the co-founder and chair of Hong Kong Watch, warned that with his health deteriorating, “without an urgent intervention to secure his release, he will die in jail as a martyr for freedom. The international community must act immediately to demand his release.”
Mr Lai was found guilty of conspiring with others to collude with foreign forces and conspiracy to publish seditious articles. He was accused of conspiring with senior executives at Apple Daily and with others to ask foreign forces to impose sanctions or blockades or engage in other hostile activities against China or Hong Kong.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was previously convicted of several lesser offences related to fraud, and is serving a nearly six-year prison term.