Jimmy Lai’s son on PM failing to release his father: He’s serving a death sentence
The Daily T
The Telegraph
4.1 • 706 Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2026
⏱️ 40 minutes
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Summary
“Beijing’s public enemy No 1” – a title that defines the fate of the media mogul Jimmy Lai.
A self-made millionaire, a British citizen and an unapologetic opponent of China’s authoritarian regime, he now sits behind bars, facing a 20-year sentence under Hong Kong’s draconian national security law.
Camilla and Tim speak exclusively to Sebastien Lai, Jimmy’s son, about his father’s deteriorating health, his disappointment with Sir Keir Starmer and the British Government’s “lacklustre” response, and why he is pinning his hopes for his father’s freedom on Donald Trump ahead of the US president’s visit to China.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph |
| 0:07.0 | The Chinese Communist Party has sentenced a British citizen, businessman Jimmy Lai, to 20 years in prison. |
| 0:17.0 | On this special edition of the Daily Tea, we speak to Jimmy Lye's son, Sebastian, |
| 0:21.5 | and ask whether the Prime Minister should have done more on his recent trip to China to secure his father's release. |
| 0:28.6 | Welcome to The Daily Tea with me Tim Stanley. |
| 0:30.7 | And me, Camilla Tominy. |
| 0:55.5 | Thank you. Tim, the name Jimmy Lai is becoming ever more familiar, not least in light of Kirstama, going to Beijing, promising to raise the case of this British businessman that's been in solitary confinement now for five years, |
| 1:02.5 | only for it to transpire that he's been sentenced to 20 years in that prison in Hong Kong. |
| 1:05.6 | People might be asking themselves, well, who is this man? |
| 1:11.6 | This man was a businessman who did very well in the clothing industry in Hong Kong, born in China. |
| 1:19.9 | He's not involved in politics at all until he is, I suppose you could say, radicalised against communism by the Tiananmen Square massacre. |
| 1:23.4 | He moves to Hong Kong. He's hugely successful there. He then decides to foray into journalism because he is increasingly skeptical, indeed, questioning of the Communist Party in China. |
| 1:33.2 | He sets up Apple Daily in the 1990s, and he remains there really as a leading voice in critique of what is going on in China. |
| 1:42.6 | By the way, while the rest of the Western world is enjoying |
| 1:44.9 | golden relationships and inviting President Xi and others to state banquets, part that aside, |
| 1:51.7 | disaster strikes in 2020, Tim, when the world is otherwise distracted with COVID, ironically, |
| 1:58.3 | later to be named by Donald Trump as the Chinese virus. |
| 2:02.0 | He introduces this draconian national security law to basically silence opponents of his regime, |
| 2:07.6 | be they in China or Hong Kong. |
| 2:10.0 | In August 2020, nearly 200 police raided the Apple Daily and arrested lie, who was then released on bail. |
| 2:19.3 | In December 2020, he was charged with collusion with a foreign country or external elements under the draconian national security law |
| 2:23.9 | plus fraud, and he's been in prison ever since then. Mostly in solitary confinement, the |
... |
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