1 week Ago By Hong Kong Free Press
Beijing has condemned the UK for interfering the case of detained pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai after the British foreign minister met Lai’s son in the UK last week. The Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong said in a Chinese-language statement on Tuesday evening that UK politicians, including the foreign secretary David Lammy, were supporting the “anti-China and Hong Kong destructor” Jimmy Lai. A spokesperson from China’s foreign ministry said Beijing urged the UK to “cease any form of interference in the region’s judicial matters, and to stop meddling in Hong Kong affairs and interfering in China’s internal affairs.
” “Hong Kong is governed by the rule of law,” the spokesperson added. “Jimmy Lai planned and instigated anti-China disturbances in Hong Kong. His collusion with external forces and actions that disrupted Hong Kong and incited division are already known to the world,” they continued.
Lai, who founded defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, has been detained since December 2020. Much of that time was spent awaiting trial under the Beijing-imposed national security law over taking part in a “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” and conspiring to publish “seditious” materials under a colonial-era law . In December 2022, Lai was sentenced to five years and nine months in jail for fraud over violating the lease of Apple Daily’s headquarters.
He is currently being held in Stanley Prison, a maximum-security facility, where he has reportedly spent time in solitary confinement. The national security trial, which began last December , was adjourned in July and will resume next Wednesday, when Lai is set to testify for the first time in the proceedings. The 76-year-old Hongkonger, who is also a British national, could spend the rest of his life behind bars if convicted.
Lammy, the UK’s top diplomat, said on X on Monday that he met last week with Sebastien Lai, the son of the media tycoon who has been lobbying overseas official to free his father. “Thank you Sebastien for meeting me last week. Your father’s case is a priority for the UK government.
We will continue to press for his immediate release and for consular access,” Lammy wrote on X. Earlier in October, Lammy was criticised by activists and King’s Counsel Caoilfhionn Gallagher Gallagher, a barrister representing Jimmy Lai and Sebastien Lai, over ignoring the jailed British national and not having met with Lai’s son before Lammy met his Chinese counterpart, international media outlet reported . Lammy met Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, in Beijing on October 18 .
The UK described the meeting as “constructive” in a statement issued by the foreign office and said Lammy had raised issues concerning human rights during the meeting, including Xinjiang and Lai’s treatment. A team of international lawyers advocating for the release of Lai on September 12 made an urgent appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur alleging that Lai had been denied access to specialised medical care for diabetes . Lai’s UK-based lawyers said in a statement that the “lack of specialised medical care increases the risk of long-term complications linked to his diabetes due to the failure to properly manage his condition.
” The statement also pointed to Lai being kept in solitary confinement, meaning he is reportedly only given 50 minutes for “restricted exercise,” with limited access to daylight. In response to questions from HKFP on Lai’s condition, the Correctional Services Department [CSD] did not directly address whether Lai had received specialist care. Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest.
It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents , while dozens of civil society groups disappeared . The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners , the UN and NGOs .
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