Jimmy Lai Submits Appeal Over Life-Threatening Detention Conditions
(ANALYSIS) On Sept. 4, the international legal team for Jimmy Lai, and his son Sebastien Lai, has submitted a new Urgent Appeal to the United Nations experts in relation to the serious and immediate risk to Jimmy Lai’s life posed by his ongoing detention.
Jimmy Lai, a 77-year-old British citizen, owner of the independent newspaper Apple Daily and pro-democracy and human rights defender, has been detained and subjected to multiple Kafkaesque trials for fighting for freedom of speech and democracy in Hong Kong. He has been imprisoned, mostly in solitary confinement, for some 1,700 days, having been detained since December 2020, and faces life imprisonment for simply standing by his principles and values.
Jimmy Lai has been facing multiple prosecutions, including for alleged sedition and alleged conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under the controversial Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong and Special Administrative Region (NSL). On August 28, 2025, Jimmy Lai’s case under NSL concluded, and a verdict is awaited.
If convicted, Jimmy Lai could be sentenced to life imprisonment. The NSL has been having a profound effect on the right to a fair trial and the rule of law in Hong Kong. Among others, the law established a separate procedure for the investigation, prosecution and trial of those suspected under the NSL.
Those prosecuted under the NSL are often denied the right to a jury trial and face trial before a panel of three specially designated national security judges. They may also face extradition to the mainland for trial. Many experts and civil society organizations have been raising serious concerns about the operation of the law.
Last year, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that Jimmy Lai is unlawfully and arbitrarily detained, calling for his immediate release. Several States, including the U.K., the U.S., Australia and the E.U., and the U.N. Special Rapporteurs, called for his immediate and unconditional release.
You can read the rest of Ewelina Ochab’s post at Forbes.com.
Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab is a human rights advocate, author and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. She’s authored the book “Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East” and more than 30 UN reports. She works on the topic of genocide and persecution of ethnic and religious minorities around the world. She is on X @EwelinaUO.