The son of jailed British media tycoon and democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai, who was last month sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in Hong Kong, has called on the British media to “keep telling my father’s story”.
Addressing more than 200 editors and news leaders at the Society of Editors conference in London via an exclusive video message, Sebastien Lai spoke of his father’s courage and deteriorating health since he was arrested and imprisoned in 2020 while calling on the UK media to continue shining a light on his father’s case.
Jimmy Lai, a British citizen and founder of the now defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, was arrested in August 2020 and charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security and one count of conspiracy to distribute seditious publications. Lai’s arrest is widely viewed as a politically motivated persecution and he was sentenced by a Hong Kong court to 20 years in prison last month, in what the Society described as “appalling and tantamount to a life sentence”.
Addressing delegates at the conference, Sebastien Lai said: “Here is a man who if we think about a free press and freedom of expression, he has taken that principle to its end. He has stood with his journalists until he was arrested, and they are torturing him for that and for having the courage to speak the truth.
“His story is a reminder of the responsibility that a journalist has to both his colleagues and to the people that they tell the truth to. His story is a reminder of the cost of standing up for the freedoms that we all take for granted.”
Speaking of his father’s courage amid his deteriorating health, Lai called on attendees to sign a letter showing their support as well as urging the UK government to do more to secure his father’s release and hold the Hong Kong government to account for its press freedom abuses.
He said: “One thing that has given me a lot of courage through this journey is the strength my father has shown. Even close to his 80s when they announced this 20-year sentence – which by all intents and purposes is a death sentence – he was stoic and at peace and even managed to smile to the judges to tell them that they may have captured and shackled his body but they have not shackled his spirit.
“I ask all of you here to join me in the campaign to free my father and shine a light on his case and to stop the Hong Kong government from telling everyone that they still have a free press after sending 500 police officers to raid my father’s newspaper and to lock him up and his colleagues for the past 5 years. Keep telling my father’s story and the story of Hong Kong.”
The conference, which brought together more than 150 senior editors and news leaders from across all platforms, also saw the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy MP announce a local media strategy. The event also saw the launch of a police and media charter aimed at strengthening trust and improving communications between officers and journalists and The Times editor Tony Gallagher awarded a fellowship of the Society of Editors for services to journalism.
