France – Reporters Without Borders, Aug. 21, 2025
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and a coalition of 72 human rights and press freedom organisations are urging British Prime Sir Minister Keir Starmer to secure the release of publisher Jimmy Lai, whose health is dangerously deteriorating after over 1,680 days in detention in Hong Kong.
In October 2024, the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that securing Jimmy Lai’s release was a “priority” for his government. On 21 August 2025, a coalition of 71 organisations led by RSF and the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation sent him a letter, urging him to press the Hong Kong authorities to release the Apple Daily founder on medical grounds.
The coalition demands that the publisher, who faces a possible life sentence under trumped-up national security charges, be allowed to reunite with his family in the United Kingdom and receive the medical treatment he urgently needs.
After nearly five years in detention, the health of the Apple Daily founder and laureate of the 2020 RSF Press Freedom Award has sharply declined. The start of closing arguments in his ongoing trial was postponed due to his heart problems, which left him feeling as though he was “collapsing.” When he eventually appeared in court on 18 August 2025, he was wearing a heart monitor and is currently taking medication. The court rejected Lai’s lawyers’ request for him to be excused from attending the hearings due to his health.
