Make Jimmy Lai’s release a precondition for closer UK-China ties, son says

The son of a convicted Hong Kong media tycoon has called on the British government to “put action behind words” and make his father’s release a precondition for closer relations between the UK and China.

British national Jimmy Lai, 78, has been found guilty by a Hong Kong court of conspiracy and sedition charges under the territory’s Beijing-imposed national security law.

Mr Lai, a pro-democracy activist who founded the now-defunct Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, has been a persistent critic of the Chinese government.

He was arrested in 2020 under the national security law, which was brought in after anti-government protests the previous year.

Mr Lai has spent much of the time since in solitary confinement, and pleaded not guilty to all the charges brought against him.

Downing Street condemned the verdict reached, with the Prime Minister’s official spokesman saying: “We will continue to appeal to the Chinese government ahead of Jimmy Lai’s sentencing for his release and access to medical treatment.

“Jimmy Lai’s case has been a priority for this Government and the Prime Minister, and as the Foreign Secretary has said, we condemn the politically motivated prosecution that has resulted in today’s guilty verdict.”

He added: “The UK has repeatedly called for Beijing’s national security law to be repealed and for an end to the prosecution of all individuals charged under it, and we will continue to call for his immediate release.”

The UK “cannot shy away from engagement” with China, he insisted, when asked if Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer still plans to travel to the country and meet its leaders next year.

The spokesman would not be drawn into saying whether the Government planned to summon the Chinese ambassador over Mr Lai’s case.

Earlier on Monday, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper criticised the Hong Kong court’s judgment.

Following her comments, Mr Lai’s son Sebastien Lai told a media briefing: “The reason why I’m here is to free my father and in order to do that the UK Government has to do more.”

He said he is grateful for Ms Cooper’s statement “but now it’s time to put action behind words and, you know, make my father’s release a precondition to closer relationships with China.

“Because how can you expect a fruitful relationship if they can’t even put a 78-year-old man, who’s in such ill health, on a plane and send him back home here in the UK where he belongs?”

The more than 800-page judgment contains “essentially nothing – there’s nothing that incriminates him, there’s nothing that even under their own legal system would make him guilty”, he said.

It is a “perfect example” of how the law “has been moulded and weaponised against someone who essentially said stuff that they didn’t like”, Mr Lai told journalists.

“We’re talking about smear campaigns… which is what the Chinese government might call what we’re doing now, and the reporting that you guys are doing.

“I think it’s hard to smear the Hong Kong legal system more than this judgment and more than this trial.”

A reporter asked if Sir Keir’s Beijing visit would be a “pivotal moment” and Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, leading Mr Lai’s international legal team, responded: “The short answer is yes.

“Closer engagement with China must come in close alignment in ensuring that our interests are protected, and we are very concerned that there has been a headlong rush into closer and closer relations without ensuring that our core interests are protected, including, in particular, a British national detained behind bars.”

Mr Lai told the briefing that he has met successive foreign secretaries and his team is speaking with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

Ms Cooper has said: “Jimmy Lai has been targeted by the Chinese and Hong Kong governments for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.

“Beijing’s national security law was imposed on Hong Kong to silence China’s critics.”

Mr Lai said his father is suffering heart issues and his nails are falling out.

These problems come as “no surprise” because he has been “baking” in a dark cell when Hong Kong has seen 50 days top 33C in the last two years, Mr Lai added.

Dame Priti Patel, shadow foreign secretary, described Mr Lai’s case as a “political show trial” which was “an outrage to democracy, personal freedom and liberty”.

She added: “His degrading treatment and imprisonment at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian regime has been appalling.”

Dame Priti urged Sir Keir to “directly raise Jimmy’s case with President Xi (Jinping) and demand Jimmy’s immediate release from custody so his ordeal can end, he can be returned to Britain and be reunited with his family”.

A cross-party group of MPs criticised the Government for not having taken stronger action ahead of Mr Lai’s conviction.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Affairs said: “The conviction represents a failing by the UK Government which has not unequivocally demanded his release.

“While other countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia have secured the release of their nationals from arbitrary detention in China and Hong Kong, the UK has failed to do so despite the unique relationship between the UK and Hong Kong enshrined in international obligations in the Basic Law.

“If the UK had taken faster, firmer and more fervent action to secure his release Jimmy Lai could be spending Christmas with his family where he belongs, rather than arbitrarily detained in Hong Kong.”

Amnesty International’s China director Sarah Brooks said: “The predictability of today’s verdict does not make it any less dismaying – the conviction of Jimmy Lai feels like the death knell for press freedom in Hong Kong, where the essential work of journalism has been rebranded as a crime.

“Lai has been jailed simply because he and his Apple Daily newspaper criticised the government. The activities for which he has been convicted would never have been considered crimes before the 2020 National Security Law was enacted.”