A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
A court in Hong Kong today began hearing closing arguments in the trial of media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who's accused of violating the city's national security law. Authorities say, among other things that violate the law, the 77-year-old Lai conspired with foreign forces to produce seditious information via his now-defunct tabloid Apple Daily. Lai has denied the charges. The trial began in 2023 and is seen as a crucial moment for press freedom in Hong Kong. His son, Sebastien Lai, is with us now. Sebastien, first off, how is your father's health?
SEBASTIEN LAI: So unfortunately, his health has deteriorated quite a lot. You would've seen the news on Friday when - heart palpitations there to delay the closing arguments by a day. But look, to be honest, he's been in solitary confinement for almost five years now. He's 77 this year. He's got diabetes. Hong Kong in the summer goes up to 30, 40 degrees Celsius. And essentially, he bakes in a concrete box. So you can imagine the toll this has on anyone, but especially someone of his age. So we're really, really worried.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, you've described the trial as a, quote, "textbook show trial" and have been advocating for your father's release for years. Do you think anything in your father's final testimony here may change the court's mind somehow?
LAI: No. I think the decision is determined. Look, it's not just my opinion that this is a show trial. It's the opinion of both the U.S. government, the U.K. government, also the Australian government, multiple U.N. special rapporteurs. The United Nations even had a very strong ruling saying that my father should not be in jail, should be released immediately, should've never been arrested in the first place. So the - you know, a completely objective body saying that this is incredibly politically motivated and that he should be free.
I mean, this is a trial that five years in - you know, almost five years into his first initial arrest, the trial still hasn't finished. It got delayed multiple times, finally started at the end of 2022, and there's no jury, as you can imagine, government-appointed judges and allegations of one of the witnesses being tortured to give testimony. So I think anybody looking at this can see how incredibly ridiculous this charade is.
MARTÍNEZ: What evidence has been presented against your father?
LAI: So the evidence has been incredibly thin. His basic crime is journalism, essentially. There's actually a very beautiful line in - when he was giving testimony where he was like, look, my job is to shine a light next to the truth. And, you know, that's what Apple Daily did for the last 30 years. I mean, the allegations that he was behind the protests, the allegations that he was doing all of this for some - campaigning for democracy for some nefarious reasons, all of that, the evidence has come out, turned out to be completely untrue. I mean, not only was he not a black hand behind the protests - whenever he met with students, he would tell them to be peaceful - he was always anti-Hong Kong independence. So he - it's shown him to be this real moral force.
And then, look, nefarious reasons to campaign for democracy is absolutely ridiculous. I mean, I think everybody looking at his story can see that this is a man who's given everything that he has for freedom and stayed in Hong Kong to defend his principles, to act as a lightning rod for his employees. I mean, this is - they'll find him guilty, no matter what. But I think in my mind and in the mind of many people around the world, he's in jail for his courage, for his persistence and for his love of freedom and liberty.
MARTÍNEZ: President Trump has said he will do everything he can to secure your father's release. Do you think the president's involvement can make a difference?
LAI: Oh, of course. I mean, we're so incredibly grateful that the president has said that. It gives our family so much hope. And it gives me hope that the president can and will save my father because, you know, as we talked about before, there's no chance of him ever getting a fair trial.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Sebastien Lai, the son of media mogul Jimmy Lai, a leading figure in Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement. Sebastien, thank you very much.
LAI: Thank you, and thank you for telling my father's story. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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