Jimmy Lai: Lawyer slams Government for ‘radio silence’ on China-sponsored arrest of 75-year-old

A top lawyer has slammed the UK Government‘s ‘radio silence’ over the China-sponsored arrest of a British citizen, 75, who is trapped in solitary confinement and is now likely to ‘die in prison’.

Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC hit out at the Government’s ‘weak’ response to the imprisonment of British media tycoon Jimmy Lai, 75, who was jailed in December 2020 on ‘arbitrary’ charges and now faces life in prison.

It comes after 40 of 100 US senators co-sponsored a resolution this month urging a strong US response to any Chinese efforts to clamp down on dissent in Hong Kong and condemned ‘false and politically-motivated charges’ against Mr Lai.

Speaking at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong Inquiry on Wednesday, Mrs Gallagher claimed Mr Lai’s conviction for fraud in December 2022 went ‘completely unnoticed’ by the Government and equated its response to ‘radio silence’.

Founder of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy paper Apple Daily, Mr Lai was critical of the Chinese Communist Party and has been detained at a maximum-security prison where he has been in solitary confinement since 2021.

Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC hit out at the Government’s ‘weak’ response to China’s imprisonment of British media tycoon Jimmy Lai (pictured), 75, who was arrested in December 2020 on ‘arbitrary’ charges and now faces life in jail

Speaking at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong Inquiry on Wednesday, Mrs Gallagher (pictured) claimed Mr Lai’s conviction for fraud in December 2022 went ‘completely unnoticed’ by the Government and and equated its response to ‘radio silence’. Pictured: Mrs Gallagher in 2016 

Mrs Gallagher said: ‘Regrettably the UK’s response to Mr Lai’s imprisonment has been weak to date.

‘We had Dominic Raab in December 2020 who made a strong statement. But we then had a period of two years when the UK Government was extremely quiet.

‘The end result has been, for this two-year period, there has essentially been radio silence about a UK national being detained.

‘We repeatedly attempted to meet with the Foreign Secretary last year after Mr Lai was convicted in December 2022 and we were unable to do so.

‘It is shocking to me that his conviction went completely unnoticed by the UK Government.

‘The United States put out a very robust statement and the European Union spoke very strongly, while the UK stayed silent.’

Mr Lai was ‘perp-walked’ from his office in August 2020 and was charged with four offences under China’s draconian National Security Law – one of which included lighting a candle in commemoration of the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989.

He was then sentenced to 20 months in prison and was given a further five years and nine months last December on two separate charges linked to lease violations which have been described as ‘politically motivated’.

Mr Lai is now facing a life sentence on a charge of ‘colluding with foreign powers’ for publishing a newspaper highly critical of the Chinese Communist Party.

Mrs Gallagher said it was ‘shocking’ that Mr Lai’s conviction went ‘completely unnoticed’ by the UK Government. Pictured: Mr Lai, 75, being arrested in Hong Kong in 2020

But Mrs Gallagher added she welcomed the ‘baby steps’ seen in the last few weeks when Foreign Secretary James Cleverly addressed the United Nations in Geneva in February and referred ‘expressly to his case’.

But she added it was ‘too little too late’ and urged the Government to do ‘much more’ and be ‘far more robust’ in defence of its citizen.

The National Security law was passed by China’s rubber-stamp parliament and bypassed Hong Kong’s legislature in June 2020. 

It was widely seen as a reaction to Hong Kong’s tumultuous pro-democracy movement which saw millions protesting against a Bill which would have given the city-state’s judicial system power to extradite suspected criminals to face trial in mainland China.

The NSL criminalised ‘secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces’ and was criticised as being ‘vague’ with the purpose of crushing any dissent against the Chinese Communist Party.

Hong Kong plummeted from 80th to 148th out of 180 countries and territories evaluated on press freedom since the law was introduced, according to NGO Reporters Without Borders.

Mrs Gallagher added: ‘Over the years, Apple Daily has trod on some very powerful toes. Because of this, for decades Jimmy Lai was targeted by the authorities in many ways.

‘What we see here is a man behind bars who will die behind bars, unless more is done for his case.’