this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2026
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/48301399

The daughter of Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy tycoon jailed in Hong Kong, has expressed concerns about her father's deteriorating health in prison, saying that his fingernails "sometimes fall off" and his teeth are rotting.

Lai, 78, has been detained since December 2020 and faces life in prison. Earlier this month he was convicted of colluding with foreign forces under the city's controversial national security law (NSL).

Hong Kong and Chinese authorities have denied that Lai has been mistreated in prison, saying he is in "good health".

The BBC has seen a letter written by Lai's family urging UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to call for Lai's release when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping next month.

His daughter Claire Lai, who is in exile in London, told the BBC that she fears she "may never see him again".

"Of course I worry that my father is going to be a martyr, and I don't want him to be a martyr. But I would not be here today, I would not be speaking out if I didn't think this was his best chance of reuniting with our family."

She described her father as an "extremely robust and strong man" when he went to prison, but said over the last year he has "lost a significant amount of weight".

"He is diabetic, he has heart issues which he never had in the past. He has fingernails that turn purplish grey and sometimes fall off. He has teeth that are rotting.

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[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Right, it's better to be polite to the people who are trying to enslave and oppress you. They will most definitely reward your obsequence. Good luck with that strategy.

[–] Eldritch@piefed.social 3 points 1 week ago

If that's what you need to tell yourself. That isn't what was said. If you already have them imprisoned and at your will. Treating them with the basic humanity you might have felt denied is the ultimate power move and demonstration that you are better/benevolent. Rather than a new oligarch same as the old oligarch. It's got nothing to do with politeness. But wielding power with humanity and justice. Something impossible for a state to do really.

But good luck cheering on those for whom brutalization and oppression is a primary tool in their arsenal. So long as they're hurting the right people. Just like the magats here. Praying they don't become the right people despite always being the right people.