Arrested media tycoon Jimmy Lai will only become a greater symbol for the pro-democracy movement if he dies in Hong Kong prison, his son Sebastien Lai has warned.
Mr Lai, the 77-year-old British national and founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily, is facing the prospect of life in prison if found guilty of sedition and collusion with foreign powers under Hong Kong’s draconian national security law.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and conspiracy to publish seditious material. While the closing arguments in his national security trial concluded last month following a trial that stretched nearly 160 days, it was unclear when the court would deliver the verdict.
Mr Lai’s son appealed for the international community to increase pressure on China to release his father, whose high-profile trial is being viewed as a test of press freedom and judicial independence in the Asian financial hub.
"It's horrible for me to say this, but if my father dies in prison, he's actually a stronger symbol of freedom, of martyrdom for your beliefs," Sebastien Lai told the AFP news agency.
"As you've seen with a lot of dissidents, once they're released, they lose a lot of that, quote-unquote, power," he said, arguing that freeing his father would be in Beijing's interest. "He's already been there for five years. He's served whatever sham sentence you brought against him."
Concerns over Mr Lai's health delayed the delivery of closing arguments in his trial last month, with the authorities eventually issuing him with a heart monitor to be worn during the proceedings. He has been kept in solitary confinement for nearly four years for his role in the pro-democracy protests of 2019, which led to Beijing imposing the national security law in the city.
Sebastien Lai has repeatedly warned that his father suffers from diabetes and has lost significant weight due to being denied independent medical care.
On the campaign trail last year the now-US president Donald Trump said he would talk to Chinese leader Xi Jinping about Mr Lai's release if elected. “One hundred percent, I will get him out,” he said at the time.
However Mr Trump has since spoken warmly of Mr Xi and his focus on China has revolved around trade talks and tariffs. In a more recent Fox News radio interview, Mr Trump denied saying he would “100 per cent” save Mr Lai but rather that he would raise the issue at some point.
Sebastien Lai met US officials and lawmakers in Washington this week. He urged other countries to persuade China that if they “go through with this and kill him, essentially, there will be very real consequences” for Hong Kong. In earlier interviews, the younger Mr Lai has said that a prison sentence, even for a lesser term such as five years, would amount to a death sentence for his ailing father.
"Hong Kong is based on a strong, rigid legal system. That's why it's a financial centre. Without the strong, rigid legal system, it's nothing," he told AFP.
Meanwhile in the UK, leaders of seven cross-party parliamentary groups have written to Sir Keir Starmer urging him to meet Sebastien Lai, who has been seeking an audience at the prime ministerial level for the last two years.
"While Jimmy Lai is best known as a media owner and entrepreneur, he is above all a father and grandfather, whose continued unlawful detention is extremely distressing for his family," the letter read.
"Meeting Sebastien Lai – who has become a father himself for the first time while his father is in jail – would enable you to hear directly about the impact of Jimmy Lai’s continued imprisonment, and to demonstrate the government’s commitment to protecting the rights of British nationals arbitrarily detained abroad."
Fiona O'Brien, the UK director of Reporters Without Borders, welcomed the letter, saying it demonstrates the breadth of political support for Lai, “whose prolonged trial and solitary confinement present a very real threat to his life”.
"If securing Jimmy Lai’s freedom is truly a UK priority, as the government claims, then the prime minister must meet Sebastien without further delay,” she said.
"Jimmy Lai is an innocent man, arbitrarily detained. His son deserves to hear first-hand what the government is doing to ensure he does not die in prison."
Report points to alarming rates of sexual violence in Hong Kong prisons
Kim Jong Un oversees test of new long-range nuclear missile
China sanctions Japanese lawmaker Seki Hei, outspoken critic of Communist Party
Why is South Korea bringing home 300 workers amid massive Hyundai raid?
Xi is getting ready to move against Taiwan – this is how it will happen
