Jimmy Lai faces the possibility of life in prison in Hong Kong over conspiracy and sedition charges. The Globe and Mail held a panel discussion on his imprisonment Wednesday.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
The son of jailed Hong Kong businessman Jimmy Lai is calling on the federal government to ensure his case is raised at the G7 Leaders’ Summit, starting this weekend in Alberta.
“I believe Canada has a responsibility,” said Sebastien Lai in an interview after a panel discussion hosted by The Globe and Mail on Wednesday.
“In the end, my father’s case is ... an amalgamation of free press, rule of law, democracy. And now it’s just whether, as a government, you stand behind these freedoms or not.”
But he also argued that public pronouncements are not enough.
“The best thing is for Canada to, first of all, join the call for his release, but also put action behind words,” he said. “Say that, ‘If you want a personal relationship with us, free this man.’ ”
Jimmy Lai, a British citizen and publisher of the now shuttered pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, was arrested in Hong Kong on conspiracy and sedition charges in December, 2020.
The businessman, who has close family and business ties to Canada, has been held in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison for 4½ years, and denied bail and a trial by jury.
He is on trial for violating a Beijing-imposed national-security law that critics say is emblematic of the erosion of rights and freedoms in the former British colony.
Jimmy Lai's son Sebastien Lai said if his father was released, he would likely come to Canada, where many of their family members live.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Sebastien Lai has been holding talks in Ottawa and Toronto about the continued incarceration of his father, raising fears about the 77-year-old’s health and the solitary conditions he is being held in.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher, lead international counsel for Jimmy Lai, said at a news conference in Ottawa this week that she feared that Mr. Lai, who has diabetes and faces the possibility of life imprisonment, is in reality facing a death sentence “simply for speaking truth to power.”
At a meeting of The Globe’s editorial board on Wednesday, she also urged Canada to raise his case at the G7.
“We think this is an extremely important opportunity for a robust position to be adopted by multiple governments,” Ms. Gallagher said. “So it seems to us that this is an opportunity for Canada to show real leadership, and for there to be a multilateral effort, and to send a very clear message to China that this man should be released.”
She said Britain, the U.S., Australia and the European Union, as well as Canada, have already called for his release. But she would like to see a communiqué at the end of the G7 summit calling on China to free him.
MPs set to vote on motion seeking honorary citizenship for jailed Hong Kong businessman Jimmy Lai
U.S. President Donald Trump said last month he would raise the case of Mr. Lai as “part of the negotiation” with China over trade and tariffs.
Quebec Senator Pierre Dalphond, a former judge, said if the G7 made such a statement it would certainly be noticed by China.
He said for China to release him would show that it is listening to the world community, which regards Mr. Lai’s captivity as “an important human-rights issue.”
Mr. Dalphond said that “China is looking for ways to establish some kind of normality to commercial discussions.” And the release of Jimmy Lai may help with fostering good will, including with Canada.
Sebastien Lai said earlier this week that if his father was released, he would likely come to Canada, where many of their family members live.
He told The Globe’s editorial board that he was grateful to see Canada showing leadership in advocating for his father.
“It’s a case that obviously speaks to values that everybody, we believe, is entitled to: values of freedom, values of a free press, but specifically values that underpin the democracies, both here in Canada, in the United Kingdom and in the U.S.,” Mr. Lai said.
Campaign under way to grant Jimmy Lai, jailed Hong Kong publisher, Canadian citizenship
Liberal MP Judy Sgro told The Globe that she is pressing ahead with plans to table a motion to grant Jimmy Lai honorary Canadian citizenship, despite being unable to introduce it in the Commons as planned on Wednesday. She said there is “tremendous support in Parliament” for it.
Honorary Canadian citizenship has only been awarded to seven people, including Nelson Mandela, Pakistani education and women’s rights activist Malala Yousafzai, and the Dalai Lama.
Sebastien Lai said that while honorary citizenship is largely a symbolic gesture, it shows Canada subscribes to the values embodied by his father.
“We’re tremendously honoured, and I think he’d be very moved as well,” he told The Globe’s editorial board.
Brandon Silver, director of policy and programs at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, said in a statement that as world leaders gather at the G7, “now is the time for Canada to join its allies and to stand firmly together in defence of Jimmy Lai, the world’s most emblematic political prisoner and media freedom case.”