Sebastien Lai, the son of detained British publisher Jimmy Lai, has written to request an immediate meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, after a Hong Kong court fixed 28 July as the provisional date for closing arguments in his father's long-drawn trial.
Paris-based global press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced the repeated delays, urging the British government to act speedily to have Lai released and allowed to return to London. Early signals were that the trial of Lai was to run for 80 days, but it has already taken more than 145 days. After 52 days on the witness stand, the 77-year-old Apple Daily founder has to wait another five months for the next phase of proceedings. RSF UK Director Fiona O'Brien denounced the delay as a calculated strategy to tire out the democracy activist, issuing an warning that the British government should not allow one of their own people to die in unfair detention. She called upon Prime Minister Starmer to enlist the help of Sebastien Lai and take swift action to bring the veteran publisher back home.
Speaking at a press conference in London on 7 March, Sebastien Lai expressed his great concern at his father's deteriorating health, exacerbated by four years in solitary confinement. His lawyers disclosed that they initially asked for a meeting with Starmer more than two years ago when he was the opposition leader, but despite several follow-ups, there has been no meeting. "I am requesting the Prime Minister to sit down and discuss my father with me before it's too late," Sebastien Lai said. He praised his father's fortitude in the witness box but also cautioned that time was running out. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has ruled Jimmy Lai's imprisonment unlawful, urging his immediate release. However, Lai remains imprisoned for five years, nine months on dubious fraud charges, atop a previous 20-month sentence for his involvement in pro-democracy protests. Hong Kong has plummeted in RSF's World Press Freedom Index to 135th out of 180, while China, the world's largest jail for journalists, ranks 172nd, with at least 123 media workers behind bars.
"China, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, has betrayed the world with its relentless pursuit of authoritarian control, dismantling the very promises it once made to the international community. Nowhere is this betrayal more evident than in Hong Kong, where the so-called "One Country, Two Systems" framework—once hailed as a beacon of autonomy—has been exposed as nothing more than a political death trap set by the Chinese Communist Party. The city, once a thriving hub of free speech and rule of law, has been suffocated under draconian security laws, mass arrests, and the silencing of dissent. Beijing’s iron grip has not only crushed the rights of Hongkongers but has also sent shockwaves through the free world, demonstrating that the CCP’s word is meaningless, its agreements hollow, and its ambitions dangerously expansionist. Western democracies, once naïve enough to believe in China’s promises, are now forced to reckon with the grim reality that Xi’s regime will stop at nothing to tighten its grip on power—deceiving allies, eroding freedoms, and weaponising economic influence. The world can no longer afford to be complacent; Hong Kong’s fall is a stark warning of the CCP’s broader agenda, one that threatens not just those under its rule, but the very principles of democracy and freedom worldwide," said Yeshe Choesang, the Editor-in-Chief of The Tibet Post International, based in Dharamshala, India, on 11 March 2025, in response to the political situation that has turned Hong Kong into yet another totalitarian regime.
You can read the full press statement from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) below:
The son of jailed British publisher Jimmy Lai has called for an urgent meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as a Hong Kong court set 28 July as a tentative date for closing arguments in his father’s show trial. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) raises the alarm over these further delays in the trial, and calls on the UK to do all it can to secure Lai’s release and bring him home to London.
Jimmy Lai’s trial on absurd national security charges was originally slated to last 80 days, but has already dragged on for 145. After 52 days in the witness box, Jimmy Lai completed his testimony on Thursday, but now the Apple Daily publisher faces a wait of almost five months before the next stage.
“These further delays are a deliberate tactic to try to break Jimmy Lai and hope the world forgets him. The UK cannot sit by and watch as its citizen — a man who has fought his whole life for the values of democracy and freedom — slowly dies in jail. The Prime Minister has rightly said that securing Jimmy Lai’s release is a priority and he now needs to put actions to his words. We call on Keir Starmer to urgently meet Jimmy’s son Sebastien, and to do everything he can to bring Jimmy Lai home," Fiona O'Brien, RSF UK Director.
At a press briefing at RSF’s London office on 7 March, Sebastien Lai said he was deeply worried about his father, 77, whose health has declined significantly during his four years in solitary confinement. His legal team said it had been more than two years since they first requested a meeting with Starmer, then leader of the opposition. But despite numerous subsequent requests, that meeting has yet to happen.
“I am asking the Prime Minister to sit down and talk to me about my father before it’s too late,” Sebastien Lai told RSF. “As his time in the witness box showed, my father is still sharp and still fighting, which is incredible given the ordeal he has endured in solitary confinement. But his health is failing, and time is running out. Enough is enough, it’s time to bring my father home.”
In November, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Jimmy Lai is unlawfully and arbitrarily detained and called for his immediate release. He had already been sentenced to five years and nine months in prison on trumped-up fraud charges and served a 20-month sentence for his participation in “unauthorised” pro-democracy protests in 2019 and 2020. Hong Kong has fallen dramatically in RSF's World Press Freedom Index, now ranked 135th out of 180 countries and territories surveyed, compared to 18th two decades prior. China, ranked 172nd, remains the world’s largest jailer of journalists, with at least 123 currently detained, including 11 in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is another region that has been abandoned by the international community, despite the overwhelming majority of its people advocating for an open society and their long-standing calls for genuine democracy, a free society, and a free press. Regrettably, Hong Kong bears a striking resemblance to Tibet—approximately 95%—in terms of political repression affecting all aspects of its people’s lives. The population has been deprived of fair elections, press freedom, and the right to free assembly. This situation has unfolded as I predicted over a decade ago, when I identified the so-called "One Country, Two Systems" framework as a communist authoritarian trap, which, as anticipated, has now ceased to exist. "This is the inevitable consequence," says Yeshe Choesang, Editor-in-Chief of The Tibet Post International. We, at The Tibet Post International, stand in unwavering solidarity with Jimmy Lai and his team. Along with media agencies worldwide, we strongly support his immediate release from China’s prison system, Choesang further asserted.
