On May 11, the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) conducted a hearing on political prisoners and the rule of law in Hong Kong.
Sebastien Lai expressed his concern that his father, former Founder, and CEO of now-defunct Next Media Group and pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, would likely spend the rest of his life in jail. He worried that he and his father could never see each other again. Nevertheless, he is proud of him.
In the hearing, Lai described his father, Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, a prisoner of conscience, who had been imprisoned since November 2020 due to his media business.
Lai thanked CECC for nominating his father, Jimmy Lai, Tonyee Chow Hang-tung, Lee Chuek-yan, Joshua Wong Chi-fung, and Gwyneth Ho Kwai-lam for the 2023’s Nobel Peace Prize.
Who Are They?
Tonyee Chow is a barrister and former vice chair of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organized the annual June 4 Vigil until 2020.
Lee Chuek-yan is a democratic politician and activist who was a Legislative Council member. Lee is a former trade union leader and former chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance.
The Hong Kong Alliance was forced to dissolve under the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL).
Joshua Wong is an activist and politician, former secretary-general of the pro-democracy party Demosistō. The former student-formed organization disbanded under the repression of the NSL.
Gwyneth Ho is a former journalist of the now-defunct media outlet Stand News, which was forced to cease operations under the repression of the NSL.
Before prison, they were all activists for democracy and human rights and against the regime.
From Clothing to Politics
Lai recalled that since 1990, his father would use his newspaper company and regularly criticize the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders. As a result, he had been harassed and targeted by the Beijing government to silence him.
The regime even threatened to close all clothing stores of Giordano, a clothing brand founded by Jimmy Lai. “My father was forced to sell Giordano at the time.”
Giordano, a mega Italian-inspired clothing retailer, was founded by media tycoon Jimmy Lai in 1981. Starting in Hong Kong and China, the clothing brand expanded globally. Lai then left the clothing business, entered the media and the world of politics, and founded Next Media in the ’90s.
Tiananmen Square Massacre Changed Everything
In 1989, Lai used his clothing resources from Giordano and donated T-shirts for protesters and student leaders in the Tiananmen Square Protest and Massacre. Lai advocated for democracy and had been a prominent critic of the Beijing government since the June 4 massacre.
It was reported that Jimmy Lai was using Giordano to fund his political activities and that he had to step away from it for being too prominent a critic of the CCP.
Jimmy Lai would then move into the media business to continue speaking up against the regime and its wrongdoing.
Heavy Surveillance By The CCP
Jimmy Lai and his family members were often tailed. The junior Lai Li saw surveillance vehicles and photographers outside his home daily.
Next Media Group’s advertisement clients also became CCP’s targets, threatening Jimmy Lai economically.
However, the threat strategy of the Chinese regime did not work. Sebastien Lai said his father was a man of principles grounded in faith; his father stood up against the CCP because he thought it was right.
Sebastian Lai pointed out that his father was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison for “fraud,” which was unheard of in business and commerce, and affirmed that it was an attempt by the Hong Kong government to slander and smear Jimmy Lai’s reputation.
In addition, Jimmy Lai was also charged with suspicion of incitement and conspiring to collude with foreign forces due to published news articles via the now-defunct Apple Daily. Sebastian Lai worried that his 75-year-old father would spend the rest of his life in prison.
Hong Kong’s Reality
Sebastien Lai criticized Hong Kong for no longer being One Country, Two systems, and the Beijing regime had been ruling Hong Kong. He thanked CECC and the U.S. government for voicing their condemnation and taking action and demanded his father be released immediately.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Lai denounced the British government for not being tough enough on Jimmy Lai’s cases. Although Sebastien Lai and Jimmy Lai were British citizens, they could not get substantial help from the British government.
Hence, he urged the U.S. government to remain focused on his father’s trials.
Jimmy Lai, and six former senior executives of Next Media Group and Apple Daily, were accused of conspiring to collude with foreign forces.
The case is scheduled to be heard in the First Instance of the High Court on Sep 25, and the trial is estimated to take 40 days.
Regime Changes Law to Stop Legal Defense
On the other hand, Jimmy Lai’s appointment and appeal winnings of British Barrister Tim Owen triggered the CCP legislative body to re-interpret the NSL.
On May 10, the Legislative Council passed the bill on amending the Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Ordinance after three readings to set up numerous roadblocks to restrict overseas lawyers from entering Hong Kong soil to participate in any cases related to the NSL.