UK – The Independent, November 22, 2024
Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai faces a potential life sentence in the high-stakes national security case in Hong Kong, his son Sebastien Lai has denounced the proceedings as a politically motivated “show trial” driven by a China-led crackdown on dissent.
Lai, the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, is facing charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and publishing seditious materials, all of which are crimes under Hong Kong’s controversial national security law, which was imposed by Beijing. Lai denies all the charges.
Sebastien paints a harrowing picture of his father’s ordeal – years of detention under dire conditions – and underscores his unwavering commitment to democracy, press freedom, and the people of Hong Kong in an interview with The Independent.
Condemning his father’s ongoing prosecution, Sebastien says that the 77-year-old media tycoon should never have been arrested. “The trial shouldn’t even be happening. He shouldn’t have been arrested in the first place,” he says.
