02 Oct 24

Amnesty International Recognises Jimmy Lai as a Prisoner of Conscience

Amnesty International has today announced that the organisation has designated Jimmy Lai as a prisoner of conscience.

76-year-old Mr Lai is an award-winning pro-democracy campaigner, media entrepreneur, editor and writer. He has been in custody in a high security prison in Hong Kong since 2020, and has spent three years and nine months in prolonged solitary confinement, posing a serious risk to his health. He has faced a barrage of legal proceedings arising from his peaceful campaigning work and his journalism, and he now faces the risk of life imprisonment under Hong Kong’s controversial National Security Law (“NSL”).

Mr Lai’s designation by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience comes when his trial under the NSL and for sedition has halted in Hong Kong, with hearings due to recommence from 20^th November 2024.

Mr Lai was named by Amnesty International along with two human rights lawyers who are currently imprisoned in Hong Kong and China, Chow Hang-tung and Ding Jiaxi. Other prisoners of conscience recognised by Amnesty International have included Narges Mohammadi (Iran), Aung San Suu Kyi (Myanmar) and fellow British national, Vladamir Kara-Murza (Russia).

Jimmy Lai and Sebastien Lai are represented by an international legal team led by Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, and including Jonathan Price, Tatyana Eatwell, Jennifer Robinson and Sarah Dobbie. The international legal team made the submission to Amnesty International to have Mr Lai recognised as a prisoner of conscience.

Amnesty International was founded in 1961 with the aim of obtaining amnesty for all political prisoners around the world and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for this work. Amnesty defines a prisoner of conscience as:

“…any person imprisoned or otherwise physically restricted (like house arrest), solely because of his/her political, religious or other conscientiously held beliefs, their ethnic origin, sex, color, language, national or social origin, economic status, birth, sexual orientation or other status, and who has not used violence or advocated violence or hatred.”

Amnesty calls for “the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience”.

In designating Mr Lai a prisoner of conscience, Sarah Brooks, China Director of Amnesty International said:

“As part of its strategy to avoid scrutiny, the Chinese government routinely justifies ruthless repression – and rebuts efforts to hold authorities accountable for it – by describing it merely as ‘internal affairs’. This is why the stories of Jimmy Lai, Chow Hang-tung and Ding Jiaxi are so important. Theirs are the ‘internal affairs’ the Chinese authorities tell us don’t deserve attention, dignity or justice.

By designating Chow, Lai and Ding as prisoners of conscience, we stand with all those unjustly detained for saying out loud what they believe to be true. All three – along with the many others imprisoned in Hong Kong and mainland China solely for their beliefs – must be immediately and unconditionally released.”

Responding to Amnesty International’s announcement today, Sebastien Lai, Jimmy Lai’s son, said:

"My father, Jimmy Lai, has been jailed and persecuted for his journalism and advocating for democracy, values that many countries around the world hold dear. It means a lot that Amnesty International recognises that he is a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely because of his beliefs and his peaceful actions. He is almost 77, diabetic and has been held in solitary confinement since December 2020.

Amnesty International's announcement today must be a spur for urgent action by the UK Government and the international community. My father must be released immediately, before it is too late."

Speaking today, international counsel for Mr Jimmy Lai and Mr Sebastien Lai, Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, said:

“Jimmy Lai is a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned for his peaceful campaigning activities, his writing and his journalism. The laws of Hong Kong have been weaponised against him in an attempt to silence him: he has served lengthy prison sentences for entirely peaceful activity supporting democracy and commemorating those killed in the Tiananmen Square massacre; he has been convicted on baseless charges of fraud based on an alleged breach of a lease; and now he faces life imprisonment under the draconian National Security Law for his work.

It is disgraceful that Jimmy Lai has spent even one day in prison. That he has spent almost four years in solitary confinement is unconscionable. Concerted, strategic and urgent action must now be taken by the UK and other countries to secure his release.”

Amnesty International’s designation of Jimmy Lai as a prisoner of conscience follows earlier calls for his release, including from the UK, US, both Houses of the Canadian Parliament, and the European Parliament. In January this year five UN experts called for all charges against Mr Lai to be dropped and for him to be immediately released.

A PDF version of this press release is available here.

*ENDS*

Jimmy Lai