Lawyers for the Hong Kong activist and media mogul Jimmy Lai have requested a meeting with the British prime minister to discuss his case.
Lai, a dual Hong Kong and British citizen, is awaiting trial on national security charges in one of the most high-profile cases brought by Hong Kong authorities against the pro-democracy movement. If convicted he could face life in prison.
Lai’s international legal team has written to Rishi Sunak requesting an urgent meeting about “potential ways to secure Mr Lai’s release”. According to extracts of the letter provided to the Guardian, the legal team described Lai’s prosecution as “a deeply concerning, emblematic case, with profound ramifications for Mr Lai”.
It said Lai had become a “thorn in Beijing’s side” and he was being targeted by authorities over his work in journalism and advocacy in support of “the rule of law, the free market, free press, property rights and an open society”.
The charges were brought under the national security law imposed in Hong Kong in 2020, which outlaws a broad swathe of behaviour as either collusion with foreign forces – the charge Lai faces – or secession, subversion or terrorism.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, who leads Lai’s international legal team, told the Guardian that Lai was a UK national “imprisoned in Hong Kong for speaking truth to power”.
“He is being subjected to ‘lawfare’ – multiple prosecutions and lawsuits, all designed to silence and discredit him and send a clear message to others that they should not dare to criticise the Chinese or Hong Kong authorities,” Gallagher said.
“We ask the prime minister and foreign secretary to treat this concerning case with the utmost urgency, and take immediate steps to protect Mr Lai, a British citizen.”
The international legal team said it had made two requests to meet UK foreign ministers in the past, which were either denied or unanswered. It said the UK government had earlier this month agreed to a meeting with a Foreign Office minister.
The Foreign Office has been contacted for comment.
The 74-year-old has been in jail for more than two years, initially on remand and then serving successive terms for offences related to the 2019 protests and business fraud, all charges his supporters say are politically motivated. The Apple Daily newspaper Lai founded was also raided, his businesses were shut down, and his colleagues arrested.
Just days after his 2020 arrest on allegations of foreign collusion, Lai told the Guardian that Beijing wanted to make “Hong Kong people subservient”.
Lai’s national security trial was supposed to begin last year but was delayed in December, after government attempts to bar UK lawyer, Tim Owen, from representing him. It is now scheduled for September.
Shortly before his December court appearance he was sentenced to a further five years and nine months for fraud, related to a contractual dispute. Supporters have suggested the conviction – over one of his companies violating terms of a lease – was politically motivated. The judge, Stanley Chan, denied the accusation.
Lai’s son Sebastian Lai said the UK government had a duty to protect its citizens.
“My dad is a British citizen who has done nothing wrong,” he said in a statement. “I call on the British government to take urgent action to protect my dad immediately and secure his freedom. The UK must do all it can to stop this, and do it now.”
The UK government has repeatedly criticised the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities’ crackdown on the pro-democracy movement, including the prosecution of Lai. The US government has condemned Lai’s conviction for fraud, but the letter from his legal team reportedly noted that the UK had made no formal statement.
Sunak’s official spokesman said on Tuesday: “We have been clear that the Hong Kong authorities must end their targeting of pro-democracy voices, including Jimmy Lai. The British government will always support rights and freedoms and the rule of law, because it’s the right and moral thing to do. The Foreign Office has provided support to Jimmy Lai for some time, and the minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan has met his legal team today.”
In December 2020, the then foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, said the national security law breached the internationally binding joint declaration governing the return of Hong Kong from the UK to China, and was being used against Lai.
“This highlights the authorities’ continued attacks on the rights and freedoms of its people,” Raab said. “We have raised this case with the authorities in Hong Kong and call on them to end their targeting of Lai and other pro-democracy voices.”
The law has been used against dozens of pro-democracy activists and supporters, with almost all high-profile figures either in jail or exiled overseas.
Additional reporting by Peter Walker
