UK – The Guardian, May 21, 2025
Call for UK PM to act urgently over pro-democracy campaigner who has spent 1,602 days in solitary confinement
Former prisoners and hostages wrongly held abroad have urged the UK prime minister to urgently secure the release of the pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai before he dies in a Hong Kong jail.
The 77-year-old media mogul, who is a British citizen, has been held in solitary confinement for 1,602 days and his family fears he might not survive another summer in Hong Kong, where temperatures can reach 40C (104F).
A letter to Keir Starmer signed by 22 people who were detained abroad and their family members, says he must act “before it is too late”.
The signatories include Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Jason Rezaian, who were held in Iran, Matthew Hedges, who was imprisoned in the UAE, and Vladimir Kara-Murza, Alsu Kurmasheva and Paul Whelan, who were released by Russia last year in a prisoner swap with the US.
They write: “We know firsthand the horror of these cases and the reality of living everyday with the knowledge you may never see your loved one again. We also know that resolving these cases and bringing British citizens home to the UK depends on robust, principled, strategic action by the UK government.”
