UK – Doughty Street Chambers, June 18, 2025
Sebastien Lai has today addressed the UN Human Rights Council about the case of his father, Jimmy Lai, in the interactive dialogue with UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion, Ms Irene Khan. Mr Lai, founder of the newspaper Apple Daily, has been unlawfully and arbitrarily detained in Hong Kong for more than 1600 days and held in prolonged solitary confinement. Ms Khan reiterated her call for Mr Lai’s release, stating that he should not be held in prolonged detention at his age and emphasised that ‘he should not be prosecuted at all’.
This follows a range of international complaints by Mr Lai’s international legal team, Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, Jonathan Price KC, Tatyana Eatwell, Jennifer Robinson and Martha Spurrier. These complaints have resulted in a number of UN communications to China and Hong Kong and a ruling from the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that Mr Lai is being unlawfully and arbitrarily detained. Both the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and five UN experts have called for Mr Lai’s immediate and unconditional release.
