China-Hong Kong: Jimmy Lai’s son calls for his father’s release at United Nations Human Rights Council
17 September 2025: Today at the United Nations Human Rights Council, Sebastien Lai addressed the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on behalf of PEN International, calling on the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities to release his father, imprisoned writer and publisher, Jimmy Lai.
Final arguments in Jimmy Lai’s national security trial concluded on 29 August 2025. The verdict will follow ‘in good time’, according to one of the three judges. The trial, which began on 18 December 2023, has faced repeated delays and has lasted 156 days—almost twice the original estimate.
During the trial, Jimmy Lai’s health has sharply deteriorated, raising significant concerns for his well-being. On 4 September, his international legal team submitted an urgent appeal to UN experts about life-threatening risks posed by his ongoing arbitrary detention.
Jimmy Lai has already been subjected to almost five years of solitary confinement, despite the WGAD’s determination last year that his detention is arbitrary and unlawful, and their call for his immediate release.
A transcript of Sebastien’s statement can be found below:
Thank you, Madame Vice President.
I thank International PEN for the opportunity to address the Council today.
International PEN has documented a disturbing global trend in the abuse of national security laws to suppress the voices writers, journalists and publishers.
My father’s case is emblematic of this trend.
My father is Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy campaigner and publisher currently imprisoned in Hong Kong.
Last year the Working Group found that my father is arbitrarily detained. You ruled that:
He has been targeted because of his political opinions, his journalism and his activism; and
the Hong Kong authorities wrongly used the law to try and silence him.
The Working Group ruled that he should be immediately released.
Yet, my father remains in prison.
The Hong Kong authorities have persisted in their targeting of him.
My father’s prosecution is the death knell for rights and freedoms in Hong Kong.
If convicted, he faces the rest of his life in prison.
He has already been imprisoned in solitary confinement for over four and a half years. He is almost 78 years of age and diabetic. His health is fading.
My greatest fear is that I will never see my father again. That he will die in prison, and the rights and freedoms that we held so dear in Hong Kong will die with him.
Today, I call on the authorities of the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong to take heed of the Working Group’s Opinion.
I call on them to immediately and unconditionally release my father, before it’s too late.
For more information about the freedom of expression situation in China, see PEN International’s recent joint submission during China’s fourth cycle UPR.
Note to Editors:
For further information please contact Ross Holder, Head of Asia-Pacific region at PEN International, email: [email protected]
For media queries, please contact Sabrina Tucci, PEN International Communications and Campaigns Manager, [email protected]