Samantha Donovan: Julian Assange’s return to Australia last week generated plenty of discussion about press freedom around the world. Another high-profile publisher who remains in jail is 76-year-old Hong Kong man Jimmy Lai. The pro-democracy campaigner and founder of Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily was arrested in 2020 for allegedly breaching national security law. His son, Sebastien Lai, says his father is now being subjected to a show trial and could spend the rest of his life behind bars. Mr Lai is visiting Australia this week, urging politicians, journalists and the broader community to call for his father’s release. I spoke to him earlier today and asked him how his father, Jimmy Lai, is holding up in custody in Hong Kong.
Sebastien Lai: My father has been in a maximum security prison until the confinement for the last three and a half years. I know mentally he’s very strong, gives a person a lot of strength knowing that he’s doing the right thing. But he’s 76 and he’s the oldest political prisoner. So the situation can change very quickly, unfortunately.
Samantha Donovan: What sort of contact are you able to have with him?
Sebastien Lai: So because I speak out on his behalf, I haven’t been able to go back to Hong Kong. In fact, the first time I saw a picture of him was a year and a bit ago, Associated Press managed to capture him exercising in prison. And there was this bittersweet moment of having not seen my father in years. And he’s skinnier and darker and flanked by two guards, but he’s still there. So the choice of speaking out is that I can’t go back and visit him.
Samantha Donovan: As far as you know, is he aware that you’re traveling the world, raising awareness of his situation?
Sebastien Lai: I hope so. And I hope that that gives him hope that he’ll be out one day and back with his family.
Samantha Donovan: You’re in Australia this week. What are you asking the Australian government to do?
Sebastien Lai: So I’m asking the Australian government to put more pressure on Hong Kong and the Chinese government to release my father and the other political prisoners. Hong Kong essentially tells the rest of the world that they still have free speech, free press, the rule of law. But if you just look at my father’s case, my father, who used to be the publisher of the biggest newspaper in Hong Kong, Apple Daily, you could see that they don’t have neither free speech, free press or the rule of law. In fact, if you type in Apple Daily Raids, you’ll see 500 police officers running into the newsrooms of Apple Daily and arresting journalists.
Samantha Donovan: I was surprised to hear that Australia hasn’t joined other countries, including the United States, the UK and Canada, to call for your father’s immediate and unconditional release. Why do you think Australia hasn’t done so?
Sebastien Lai: I would not like to speculate. We’ve had, now I’m a camera at the moment, we’ve had many good and hopeful meetings. I hope they do join the call and make the world’s difference.
Samantha Donovan: As you know, Australia has had a bit of a shaky relationship with China in recent years, but things seem to be improving, the trade relationship is improving. Do you think Australia is less likely to speak out about your father’s position because it is trying to improve the relationship with China?
Sebastien Lai: I actually think that Australia is in a better position to speak out. You see, Hong Kong returning to a place where the freedoms of the free world are present while the values of China are also present is a place of dialogue, essentially. So a Hong Kong that is freer is better both for Australia and for China. Now, Hong Kong at the moment, that’s obviously not the case, having 1,800 political prisoners. This is also a Hong Kong government that has put bounties on two people that are currently based in Australia. So I think it’s a huge sore point, actually, in the relationship between Australia and China. And the sore point can actually very easily be remedied by releasing people like my father and other political prisoners.
Samantha Donovan: The release last week of Julian Assange from custody was obviously huge news in Australia. Does the negotiated plea deal of Julian Assange give you and your lawyers any hope that the same can be done for your father? Or is dealing with Hong Kong and China just a completely different type of situation?
Sebastien Lai: Obviously I saw the video of him on the tarmac hugging his wife and it really made me miss my father. My father’s case is actually much more straightforward. It’s that of a publisher who obviously championed pro-democracy values for the last 30 years. And as a direct result of that and of staying in Hong Kong, even when his life was threatened to protect his journalists, as a direct result of that, he is now in prison. So we see it, at least I see it as a much more straightforward case. And I think that’s why we’ve been having the bipartisan support wherever we’ve been.
Samantha Donovan: Sebastien Lai is the son of Hong Kong businessman and publisher Jimmy Lai, who’s on trial in Hong Kong for breaching national security law. And the office of the Foreign Minister Penny Wong referred us to a post on X by the Senator, confirming that she’s met with Jimmy Lai’s family and lawyers this week, and that quote Australia is deeply concerned by Hong Kong’s widespread application of national security laws to repress civil society and prosecute journalists like Mr Jimmy Lai.