International news outlets are reporting that more than 100 journalists and editors have signed an open letter calling for the immediate release of Jimmy Lai, who at the age of 75 is still detained in a Hong Kong prison.
They are asking for charges against him and other journalists to be dropped.
Lai, the founder of Apple Daily, a Hong Kong media outlet openly critical of the Chinese Communist Party, was out on bail for a short time after being arrested in August 2020 on national security charges. His bail was evoked and he has been imprisoned since December of that year.
The media tycoon is also the owner of Vintage Hotels. He took over the Pillar and Post in 1974, and then the Prince of Wales Hotel, which was sold to Lai by the Wiens family.
Later came the Queen’s Landing Inn, and then the Oban Inn, which is still run by his twin sister Si Wai Lai, who came to town to take over the running of the Pillar and Post.
A pro-democracy activist who had taken to the streets in protest, Lai was imprisoned on charges of allegedly violating the lease terms for office space for the Next Digital, the media company he founded, and under what was then a new national security law, of suspicion of colluding with foreign forces and endangering national security.
Lai had recently resigned as chairman and executive director of Next Digital, which runs his Apple Daily newspaper, “to spend more time dealing with these personal affairs,” the Associated Press reported then.
The Guardian and other international news outlets say the signatories to the letter, organized by Reporters Without Borders, said: “We, as publishers and editors of news media organizations from around the world, are united in support of Apple Daily founder and publisher Jimmy Lai, and his fight for media pluralism and press freedom in Hong Kong.
“Jimmy Lai has stood for these values his entire life … In a tremendous act of courage, he chose to stay in Hong Kong and continued to publish as long as he could, despite the severe crackdown taking place around him.”
Bob Jackson, CEO of Vintage Hotels, said Lai “is always in our hearts and prayers. And I’m always happy to see others speak out on behalf of press freedom, in his case specifically, and of course we’re extremely supportive of the cause.”
Jackson has met Lai several times over the years, and says “the best way to describe him, and I don’t think this would be surprising, would be that he is a very inspirational man. He’s also very principled, and I’ve always enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with him.”
As owner of Vintage Hotels, Lai’s imprisonment does not affect the operation of the business at all, said Jackson.
“We’re independent, and we have a board of directors. We’ve been able to function normally regardless of what’s been happening with Mr. Lai.”
Jackson adds that he appreciates “the International community shining a light on the situation. We can only hope they will continue to shine a light on this.”
NOTL resident Erica Lepp is Lai’s niece, and daughter of Si Wai Lai. She said her cousin Sebastian, one of Jimmy Lai’s four children, was in Niagara-
on-the-Lake recently.
Her uncle has visited his family in Niagara-on-the-Lake many times in the past, and she has described him as a kind man, a calm person, and passionate about his beliefs, although she has been cautious of talking about his activities.
But she is outspoken of her support for the current attempts to have him freed, as is Sebastian, who she says “has been going around the world talking to all the press outlets. He’s been to Washington D.C., London and New York City, trying to get the message out.”
It’s difficult to know how he’s being treated in prison — family members get few chances to visit — “but he’s 75, he’s diabetic, and he’s in prison. It’s hard to know how he’s doing, but we’re always worried about him,” she says.
She encourages people to watch a documentary on YouTube by the Acton Institute called The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai’s Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom, which in the three weeks it has been online has received more than two million views — it can be seen at youtube.com/watch?v=bRkuv-fOV7k.
“It is literally his history. It explains his story in the best way, and is supported by my uncle’s people and by the family. We’ve been doing a lot of sharing.”
Lepp says his freedom could be in the hands of the U.K. Lai is a British citizen — that’s his only citizenship, she adds.
The Guardian said Lai’s supporters have criticized the U.K. government for not doing enough to advocate for Lai’s release, and that Sebastian said publicly recently that the U.K. government was “incredibly weak” for failing to call for the release of his father.
Lepp says the family is really hoping the British government will step up and come to his aid.
Lai was chosen one of Time Magazine’s top 100 influential people in 2015.
In December 2020, he was given a Freedom of Press Award by Reporters Without Borders for his role in founding Apple Daily.
Earlier this year, a group of leading U.S. lawmakers nominated Lai and five other Hong Kong democracy advocates for the Nobel Peace Prize. Nobel Prize winners are announced in October.