Today, 24 June 2025, marks four years since the newspaper Apple Daily was forcibly shut down by the Hong Kong authorities. Jimmy Lai, the newspaper’s founder and publisher, has now spent more than 1600 days in solitary confinement.
Despite numerous requests, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has yet to meet with Jimmy’s son Sebastien. English PEN has joined 32 other organisations in writing to the Prime Minister asking him to meet with Sebastien without further delay.
The Rt Hon Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer KC
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AB
24 June 2025
Dear Prime Minister,
We are writing as a coalition of 33 organisations deeply concerned about detained British publisher, writer, and media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, to ask you to meet his son Sebastien Lai as a matter of urgency.
Jimmy Lai is 77 years old and in poor health. He has now spent more than 1600 days in solitary confinement in Hong Kong, awaiting the outcome of his politically motivated and repeatedly delayed show trial. With every day that passes, the risk that he will die in jail increases.
We have been encouraged to hear you state in Parliament that his case is a priority for your Government, and that you continue to raise it at a high level. We know, however, from our work on this and other cases of Britons detained arbitrarily abroad, the vital importance of meeting family members face to face.
It has been more than two years since Sebastien Lai first asked to meet you, initially in your role as leader of the opposition. However, despite numerous subsequent requests, that meeting has yet to happen.
As a British citizen facing an unthinkable ordeal, Sebastien Lai deserves to hear first-hand from you what your Government is doing to secure the release of his father. Such a meeting would also enable you to hear directly from him about the impact on his family of his father’s continued imprisonment, and to demonstrate the Government’s stated commitment to protecting the rights of British nationals arbitrarily detained abroad.
Prime Minister, today, 24 June 2025, marks four long years since the newspaper Jimmy Lai founded – Apple Daily – was forcibly shut down by the Hong Kong authorities. It was closed not because of any wrongdoing, but simply because – like Jimmy Lai himself – it was a powerful voice for democracy and freedom. In the years since, the lack of international repercussions has only encouraged further repression, as the Hong Kong authorities weaponise law to pursue and silence independent voices, not only those in Hong Kong, but also those of Hong Kongers living in Britain.
This trajectory must come to an end. Britain’s unique relationship with Hong Kong and its status as Jimmy Lai’s home nation give you a chance to show powerful leadership on a case which is not only devastating for one family, but also emblematic of a far deeper repression of freedoms in Hong Kong.
On this poignant anniversary, we therefore ask that you agree to meet Sebastien without further delay, to relieve his anguish, and to together seek ways to make progress in his father’s case.
We stand ready to support you in any way that we can as you seek to secure Jimmy Lai’s urgent release and reunite him with his family.
Yours sincerely,
Amnesty International UK
Aus-Hong Kong Connex Inc.
Committee to Protect Journalists
English PEN
Fighters for Truth e.v.
Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign
Hong Kong Committee in Norway
Hong Kong Democracy Council, USA
Hong Kong Media Overseas
Hong Kong Watch
Hongkonger in Deutschland e.V.
Hongkongers in Britain
Human Rights Foundation
Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC)
Index on Censorship
International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute
Lady Liberty Hong Kong
North East Hongkongers Club
Northern California Hong Kong Club
Nottingham stands with Hong Kong
PEN America
PEN Canada
PEN International
PEN Melbourne
REDRESS
Reporters Without Borders
The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation
The Hong Kong Scots
US Hongkongers Club
Uyghur PEN Centre
Vancouver Activists of Hong Kong
Victoria Hongkongers Association (Australia)
Washingtonians Supporting Hong Kong (DC4HK)
Photo credit: Mark Simon