Jimmy Lai’s Son Says His Father’s Health Is Deteriorating, Calls for U.S. and U.K. Rescue

File Photo: Jimmy Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai, speaks at a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee event supporting his father, taken by VOA reporter Yihua Li on September 18, 2024.

[People News] Sebastien Lai, son of Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media mogul Jimmy Lai, stated that his father’s health has collapsed. He warned that if the U.S. and U.K. do not make greater efforts to secure his release soon, "his time is running out."

According to Voice of America, Jimmy Lai was arrested in August 2020 for supporting student protests during Hong Kong’s pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019. Authorities charged him under the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL).

In January last year, the 77-year-old Apple Daily founder rejected charges of colluding with foreign forces and inciting subversion, insisting on his innocence.

The NSL, implemented in June 2020, broadly defines four crimes: secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign or external forces, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

In an interview with a French TV station earlier this year, Sebastien Lai said his father had been actively fighting for Hong Kong’s democracy for years. When the Hong Kong government enforced the NSL in 2020, many warned Jimmy Lai that he was a top target and urged him to leave. However, he chose to stay, concerned that his newspaper and fellow pro-democracy activists would face persecution if he fled.

Sebastien Lai urged U.S. President Donald Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer to take urgent action to rescue his father. Jimmy Lai has been in solitary confinement for nearly four years, which has drawn condemnation from UN experts.

Jimmy Lai also suffers from diabetes. "His health is collapsing… it’s akin to torture," Sebastien Lai told Reuters on Tuesday, ahead of the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. "My father doesn’t have much time left."

In October last year, Trump pledged before taking office that he would ensure Lai’s release "100 percent." Sebastien Lai said, "We are very grateful he said that. It gave us great hope."

He also called for a stronger response from the U.K., stating, "If (the U.K.) wants to normalize relations (with Hong Kong), they should not normalize the arrest of citizens for defending democracy."

The U.K. government stated that Jimmy Lai’s case remains a high-priority issue. Prime Minister Starmer raised the matter during his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping last November.

Reuters reported that the U.S. government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Jimmy Lai’s case has drawn close attention from the U.S., U.K., EU, and other Western democracies, which have criticized his trial as politically motivated. Beijing has launched a years-long national security crackdown in Hong Kong, which was once Asia’s financial hub. Western governments have called for Lai’s immediate release.

Jimmy Lai’s international legal team argued that his case is part of a broader trend of using "law" to silence journalists.

The team urged world leaders attending next week’s UN Human Rights Council meeting to condemn Beijing’s actions and defend press freedom.

Caoifhionn Gallagher, the lead barrister for Jimmy Lai’s international legal team from Doughty Street Chambers in the U.K., said, "How the world reacts will send an important message to dictators everywhere."

Over the past decade, Hong Kong’s ranking on the World Press Freedom Index has fallen from 61st to 135th out of 180 countries.