UK – Doughty Street Chambers, September 18, 2024
Jimmy Lai’s ongoing arbitrary detention in solitary confinement in Hong Kong was raised during the 57th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, at the interactive dialogue with the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
Jimmy Lai and his son Sebastien are represented by an international legal team led by Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, and including Jonathan Price, Tatyana Eatwell, Jennifer Robinson and Sarah Dobbie. The international legal team has filed a number of UN complaints on behalf of Mr Lai, including an urgent appeal to the Working Group about Mr Lai’s arbitrary and unlawful detention, and to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture about the prolonged solitary confinement Mr Lai has suffered during his imprisonment.
The United States called for the ‘immediate release’ of Mr Lai in its remarks during the interactive dialogue.
Dr Tatyana Eatwell of the international legal team, addressing the UN Human Rights Council with support of Redress, said:
“Mr Lai, has now been detained in solitary confinement for over 3.5 years, since December 2020 in circumstances that pose grave risk to his health – in violation of China’s obligations under the Convention against Torture… He is now on trial and faces life imprisonment under the draconian National Security Law for, as the prosecution’s own case has made clear, his fearless journalism at Apple Daily, his discussion of politics and accountability in Hong Kong, and his campaign for democracy in Hong Kong – for exercising his internationally protected rights and freedoms.
We call on China and the Hong Kong authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mr Lai. We urge the Working Group and the Council to raise Mr Lai’s case along with the cases of all those who are being unlawfully and arbitrarily detained in Hong Kong for exercising their internationally protected rights, and to call for their immediate and unconditional release.”
