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 earlier than beginning in December 2023.
Politics newest: Starmer praised after frantic weekend of diplomacy
The present UK authorities stated it has urged China to launch him throughout visits to Beijing to hunt nearer relations, however Sebastien Lai stated the state of affairs is now pressing.
“He’s still strong mentally and spiritually,” Sebastien Lai stated.
“But he’s in the body of a 77-year-old, and it’s just one of those situations where we can’t wait.”
Picture:
Jimmy Lai throughout a protest in 2019
Jimmy Lai, who has diabetes, has misplaced a big quantity of weight and has appeared more and more frail at his trial. His authorized workforce stated he has been denied impartial medical care, is just allowed out of his cell for 50 minutes a day and, as a religious Catholic, has been denied the Eucharist.
Sebastien Lai delivered a letter to 10 Downing Road on Monday morning, asking for a gathering with Sir Keir to get his father, who has solely ever had a British passport, launched instantly.
He stated his father’s case is a “litmus test” for the federal government to see if it’ll stand as much as China for a British citizen who’s 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 stated.
“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 imply, how can we count on a good or honest relationship with a rustic that is not even prepared to launch certainly one of our residents 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 precedence, to indicate they can not hold mistreating my father the best way they have been doing”.
Please use Chrome browser for a extra accessible video participant
2:35
‘Hong Kong’s develop into a policed state’
Sebastien Lai stated the Hong Kong authorities has been conserving his father, who has diabetes, in such terrible circumstances “because they believe they could get away with it”.
Jimmy Lai’s case is a significant sticking level within the authorities’s relations with China, with Sir Keir saying securing his launch is a “priority” – whereas attempting to revive commerce relations with Beijing.
The billionaire, who owned the pro-democracy paper Apple Every day and was a well-recognized face in the course of the 2019 protests, has given his testimony for 48 days in Hong Kong, with 22 of these dealing with cross-examination by authorities legal professionals.
He’s anticipated to proceed his testimony this week however his son stated he doesn’t understand how lengthy the case will go on for.
