Jimmy Lai, a major media businessman in Hong Kong, was accused by Beijing of sedition and collusion with foreign forces during the 2019 pro-democracy protests, in which he was a central figure.
The children of Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong tycoon who has been imprisoned for five years, expressed concern about their father’s poor health during a meeting with journalists in Washington, reported the AFP news agency.
“He has lost a lot of weight and is much weaker than before. His nails are turning almost purple, gray and greenish before they fall out, and his teeth are rotting,” the tycoon’s daughter, Claire Lai, told journalists, including from AFP, who left Hong Kong after visiting her father a few months ago.
Claire Lai spoke to the media during a visit to Washington, where the family is seeking support to free her father.
Jimmy Lai, a major media businessman in Hong Kong, was accused by Beijing of sedition and collusion with foreign forces during the 2019 pro-democracy protests, in which he was a central figure.
The media mogul, who will turn 78 next Monday, has been in prison since December 2020. Diabetic, Jimmy Lai has been held in solitary confinement without air conditioning in a prison where summer temperatures reach 44°C, his children said.
The Hong Kong Government condemned what it called the “distortion” of Lai’s story in the press, including reports published by AFP.
“These reports seek to defame [o Governo de Hong Kong]by trying to deceive the public,” authorities in the Chinese territory said in a statement. According to Hong Kong authorities, Jimmy Lai is receiving “adequate and comprehensive” care in prison.
Jimmy Lai, founder of the banned pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, is accused of inciting Western governments to impose sanctions on China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region following the repression of the pro-democracy movement. He is also accused of producing seditious articles and content, including editorials published under his own name. These crimes are severely punished by law.
Jimmy Lai’s son, Sebastian Lai, hopes that US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will continue to raise his father’s – who is a British citizen – issue with China.
“It would only take two hours to put my father on a plane and send him to another place. It would be the human thing to do, it would be the right thing to do”, said the businessman’s son, adding that his father was “put through hell”.
