Alarm is growing over the rapidly declining health of imprisoned Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, with his family issuing a desperate plea for international intervention to secure his freedom.
Family Describes Alarming Physical Decline
The children of the 77-year-old pro-democracy figure have provided disturbing new details about his condition while in detention. Jimmy Lai has suffered dramatic weight loss and is significantly weaker, according to his daughter, Claire Lai. She reported seeing him several months ago before leaving Hong Kong.
His physical ailments are severe and worsening. His nails have turned shades of purple, grey, and green before falling off, and his teeth are rotting. Lai, a diabetic, is being held in solitary confinement without air conditioning in a facility where summer temperatures can soar to a stifling 44C (111F).
A Campaign for Humane Treatment and Release
The family is now campaigning globally for his release, recently travelling to Washington to rally support. Claire Lai accused prison guards of employing petty tactics to demoralise her father, a devout Catholic. These include denying him communion and, upon learning he enjoyed curry sauce, ensuring he receives none at all.
Jimmy Lai has been behind bars since late 2020, following a widespread crackdown in Hong Kong. He faces charges of foreign collusion linked to the mass pro-democracy protests in 2019 and a potential prison sentence of at least 15 years.
Appeals to UK and US Leadership
Lai's son, Sebastien Lai, has voiced hope that both UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and former US President Donald Trump will prioritise his father's case in discussions with China. He emphasised that his father is a British national.
"It will take two hours to put my father on a plane and send him away," Sebastien stated. "It'll be the humane thing to do; it'll be the right thing to do. They've already put him through this hell."
The businessman, who founded the now-defunct pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, will turn 78 next Monday. His family's appeals highlight the intensifying scrutiny on Beijing's governance of Hong Kong, a financial hub promised a separate system when Britain handed over sovereignty in 1997.
