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.
[...]
Prisons should exclusively be used for reeducation, and failing that, safely isolating dangerous individuals.
But of all the people being subjected to pointless cruelty in prisons right now, I'm sure as hell not gonna shed a tear for an ultra-rich comprador.
@alcoholicorn@hexbear.net
This comments tells a lot about you and your 'world view' -or, better, where you got it from. It's from a community that literally cheers violence and supports authoritarian regimes (Source).
Prison abolition, the most authoritarian of views.