The daughter of pro-democracy advocate and former media mogul Jimmy Lai is urging the Chinese government to release her father after Lai was convicted in a Hong Court earlier in the week on national security charges.
Lai, the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily, has long been a target of the Chinese ruling party because of his free-speech views.
Lai has been in jail for five years and is in failing health. He faces life in prison.
Lai’s daughter, Claire Lai, and one of his lawyers, barrister Jonathan Price, spoke with Here & Now’s Indira Lakshmanan.
10 questions with Claire Lai and Jonathan Price
Claire, what was your reaction to the guilty verdict? And have you been allowed to speak to your father since?
Claire Lai: “We expected the verdict. I mean, the law is extremely broad and draconian and very arbitrary. So, you know, most people plead guilty when they’re charged because the conviction rate is so high. So, we expected it. But I was a bit sad.
“Our father has taught us to meet adversity with a certain degree of cheer and spirit. And that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Your father has been in prison for five years already, largely in solitary confinement. You’ve been able to visit him. How is he doing?
Claire Lai: “My father was such a strong, robust man, but in the last five years, he’s gotten a lot weaker, especially in the last year, his health has just deteriorated massively.
“He is diabetic. He has heart issues now, which he didn’t prior to being incarcerated. He has infections that last for a month. His eyesight is failing; his hearing is failing. He has back pains and he has waist pains. He has nails that turn purplish gray and fall off. He has teeth that are rotting. I mean, just a myriad of health issues that are just extremely worrying. And, you know, we’re, of course, quite heartbroken.”
Jonathan, I know you’re part of Mr. Lai’s international legal team, not the team in Hong Kong. Sentencing is set for the middle of next month. Can this verdict be appealed?
Jonathan Price: “It can endure. It can be appealed. And there’s a right of appeal within 48 days. But the wider issue is that that’s just going to extend the legal problems, going to extend the period that he’s going to be in prison.
“He, as you point out, has been in prison now for five years, and this trial has been ongoing for two of those years.
“He turned 78 last week. As Claire has just set out, he’s in failing health. And there has to be a bit of realism here. I mean, this is a man who’s been punished cruelly already, simply for committing journalism, conspiring to speak about democracy and improving the democratic processes in Hong Kong, and whether or not he appeals, it’s time that he was released.”
Jonathan, could Mr. Lai’s conviction actually be a step forward in his possible release, perhaps on medical grounds?
Jonathan Price: “Well, the case now to release him on humanitarian grounds is more pressing and obvious than ever before. And the gross unfairness with which he’s been treated has attracted the attention of leaders all over the world.
“Mr. Lai is a British citizen. He’s only a British citizen. That’s the only passport that he holds. And his own government now came out [on Monday] in very strong condemnation of this verdict and the way that he’s been treated. And that top priority now is to see him released. [Prime Minister] Keir Starmer himself is going over to Beijing at the end of January. And now that they have their pound of flesh, now they have achieved the conviction under their flagship national security law in this trial that they wanted.
“It seems to me that attention must now focus to securing his release on humanitarian grounds, and that is something that can be achieved at the political level. Leader to leader and all those involved haven’t expressed a willingness to seek that, and we hope that that can be achieved now.”
Claire, as Jonathan says, your father is a British citizen, Sir Jimmy Lai. Your brother Sebastian, whom I’ve spoken with in the past, has appealed to the UK Government to secure his release. Have you gotten any indication of progress to secure his freedom?
Claire Lai: “I’m quite new to this advocacy side, but my understanding is that Prime Minister Keir Starmer is going to China at the end of January. So that should be when we hopefully get the sentence. This is a matter that has to be resolved leader-to-leader. And we hope that the prime minister continues to raise the issue of my father, who, as Jonathan has said, is solely a British citizen in his talks with President Xi.”
President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have spoken out in support of your father. Have you personally heard from them, and how have you been received by other politicians in Washington?
Claire Lai: “We have gotten a great deal of support across the political aisle from the House and the Senate. Last month, 30 senators signed a letter to President Trump urging him to raise the issue of my father when he went [to China] during the trade negotiations with President Xi. And it was later reported that he did, which we are extremely, extremely grateful for. And, you know, in a lot of corners, the people we’ve met have extremely, generously extended their kindness to us, which we are extremely humbled and grateful for.”
Claire, I’m wondering, are you worried about returning to Hong Kong because of the advocacy work that you’ve been doing on your father’s behalf?
Claire Lai: “Now that I’ve started doing advocacy work, the choice I made was knowing that I wouldn’t be able to return.”
Meaning that you yourself would be at risk of arrest in the same way that your brother is?
Claire Lai: “Yes. Yes.”
Tell us about your father’s passion for journalism and the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. And what do you envision him doing, and where would he be living, if he is released?
Claire Lai: “My father, when he started Apple Daily, information was freedom, and giving information to people who yearned for it was like, you know, giving them agency and therefore freedom. And that’s why he started.
“Apple Daily ran for almost 26 years and it was painfully shut down in 2021. But, you know, my father is 78, and he just wants to spend the rest of his days serving our Lord and just spending time with his family.
“And, you know, my brother and I can’t return to Hong Kong, but we’ll make a home wherever we’re together. So, we just want to be reunited as a family. And it’s the little things that you sort of yearn or look forward to, like eating around the dinner table, like going to a Christmas mass or like praying together at night and, you know, just the little things.”
Jonathan, I know that you also have experienced a lot of threats, you and your colleagues who’ve worked on Mr. Lai’s case in a couple of seconds. Tell us who is behind those threats.
Jonathan Price: “Well, we have, but it’s difficult to say. I mean, we’ve tried to look beyond that. But it’s true to say that since starting work on this case, and I’ve worked on cases involving regimes all over the world, I’ve had some of the worst harassment.”
This interview was edited for clarity.
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Jenna Griffiths produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Michael Scotto. Scotto adapted it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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