Son of jailed Hong Kong media mogul, activist Jimmy Lai lobbies U.Ok. international secretary for launch

LONDON — The son of jailed Hong Kong media mogul and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai met with Britain’s international secretary on Tuesday to foyer for the U.Ok.’s assist in securing his launch from jail.

Lai, the founding father of the now-defunct Apple Daily, an outspoken pro-democracy newspaper, faces a long-delayed trial subsequent week over expenses he violated sweeping nationwide safety legal guidelines that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong after anti-government protests.

The 76-year-old British citizen has been in detention since 2020 over different offenses. He faces life in jail if convicted of the nationwide safety expenses.

His son Sebastien Lai, who leads a global marketing campaign to name for his father’s launch, mentioned he hoped the assembly with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron would increase the case’s profile and add to worldwide stress on Hong Kong’s authorities.

“The U.K. opposes the National Security Law and will continue to stand by Jimmy Lai and the people of Hong Kong,” the Foreign Office mentioned after the assembly.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Jimmy Lai is accused of conspiring with others to name for worldwide sanctions or have interaction in hostile actions in opposition to Hong Kong or China. He additionally faces a cost of collusion with international forces to hazard nationwide safety, and a separate sedition cost underneath a colonial-era regulation that’s more and more used in opposition to the opposition.

The enactment of the nationwide safety regulation in 2020 has led to the arrests of scores of opposition lawmakers and democracy activists, in addition to an exodus of younger professionals scared of shrinking civil liberties.

Apple Daily was compelled to shut following the arrests of its high executives, editors and journalists.

Caoilfhionn Gallagher, a London-based rights lawyer main the Lais’ worldwide authorized workforce, argued that the trial, to be overseen by three judges, is stacked in opposition to him.

“There’s no possible outcome for this trial that’s fair,” she mentioned.

Sebastien Lai and his authorized workforce hope that diplomatic stress could possibly be instrumental. They cite the case of Cheng Lei, the Chinese Australian journalist who was launched earlier this yr after being detained for 3 years in China on murky espionage expenses.

Cheng’s return to Australia was seen as the results of lobbying from the Australian authorities and improved relations between China and Australia.