UK: RSF welcomes cross-party letter urging Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to urgently meet Jimmy Lai’s son

Sebastien Lai has been seeking a meeting with Starmer for more than two years. In their letter to the prime minister, chairs and vice-chairs of seven All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) express their concern about 77-year-old Jimmy Lai's health, and the impact of more than 1,700 days in solitary confinement.

"While Jimmy Lai is best known as a media owner and entrepreneur, he is above all a father and grandfather, whose continued unlawful detention is extremely distressing for his family," the letter says. "Meeting Sebastien Lai - who has become a father himself for the first time while his father is in jail - would enable you to hear directly about the impact of Jimmy Lai's continued imprisonment, and to demonstrate the government's commitment to protecting the rights of British nationals arbitrarily detained abroad."

Urgent UN appeal

Lai has been arbitrarily imprisoned in Hong Kong since December 2020 and faces a possible life sentence under politically motivated national security charges. He has endured prolonged solitary confinement, suffers from chronic illnesses including diabetes, and has recently required a heart monitor and medication. He is currently awaiting a verdict in his trial, which has been characterised by repeated delays and serious due process violations.

The APPG letter comes just after Lai's international legal team filedan urgent appeal to the United Nations regarding the serious and immediate threat to Jimmy Lai's life posed by his ongoing detention. The appeal - filed with the Special Rapporteurs on torture, the right to health, and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions - details the apparent systemic failure of the Hong Kong authorities to care for older and diabetic prisoners.

RSF has repeatedly called for Starmer to meet Sebastien Lai and in August led a coalition of more than 70 NGOs who wrote to the prime minister urging him to secure Jimmy Lai an urgent medical parole. Starmer said in October 2024 that securing Jimmy Lai's release was a "priority".

Since 2020, the Hong Kong government has prosecuted at least 28 journalists, eight of whom are currently detained. Hong Kong is ranked 140th in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index, having plummeted down the rankings from 18th place in just two decades. China ranks 178th of the 180 countries and territories surveyed.