(Bloomberg) -- The international legal team for Hong Kong ex-media mogul Jimmy Lai is urging the US and UK to strike a deal for his release, as the septuagenarian’s trial under a Beijing-imposed security law enters its eleventh hour.
Lawyers for Lai, along with his son Sebastien Lai, said Beijing had given them optimism earlier this month by freeing US pastor David Lin after some 20 years of detention. A high-profile US prisoner swap with Russia that released journalist Evan Gershkovich had also bolstered hopes for a path to securing Lai’s freedom, they added.
“There is, at the moment, a real impetus I think for these prisoners of conscience in long-standing cases of injustice, for a deal to be done,” Caoilfhionn Gallagher said in Washington, where the team met this week with Biden administration officials and US lawmakers. “It feels, to us, the time is right.”
Gallagher declined to say whether she was already in talks with foreign governments about such a deal, which her team suggested could theoretically be finalized before the trial concludes. The former textile tycoon is being represented in Hong Kong’s court by local counsel, after being barred from using a UK-based lawyer.
Lai, who is set to take the stand in November, is the most high-profile target in Hong Kong’s crackdown on dissent, and could spend the rest of his life behind bars if convicted of foreign collusion.
It’s unclear if the ruling Communist Party, or Hong Kong government, would consent to any deal given Chinese officials have spent years casting the former newspaper publisher as one of the primary drivers of anti-Beijing sentiment in Hong Kong. His pro-democracy Apple Daily was effectively shuttered by Hong Kong authorities in the crackdown following the 2019 democracy movement.
The Biden administration – which advocated for the freed pastor, but has not claimed credit for his release — has repeatedly called for Lai’s liberty. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to meet Chinese officials next week at the United Nations General Assembly gathering in New York. Any talks would likely involve the UK government, as Lai is a British citizen.
China’s Foreign Ministry said it supported “punishing criminal acts endangering national security” and that Hong Kong was “governed by the rule of law” when asked on Lai’s release. The city authorities condemned any attempt by another country to use “political power” to “procure a defendant’s evasion of the criminal justice process.”
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his predecessor David Cameron have both raised the issue with their Chinese counterpart Wang Yi this year, and UK diplomats have pressed for consular access to Lai. The UK government believes Lai’s case is politicized and has met with Lai’s international legal team and son, but there’s so far been no indication Beijing will budge.
“British national Jimmy Lai’s case is a priority for the UK Government,” a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said.
While China has been trying to stabilize ties with America ahead of the November election, releasing Lai would mean absolving a man Beijing has for decades viewed as a top troublemaker. The ruling party accuses the former media mogul of being a traitor who colluded with China’s top rival, the US, to sanction Chinese and Hong Kong officials.
Since founding the Apple Daily newspaper in 1995, Lai has been a relentless critic of the Chinese government. Lai famously insulted former leader Li Peng by calling him the “son of a turtle egg,” and his tabloid backed mass protests in 2014 and 2019 calling for greater democracy. Beijing branded those movements “color revolutions” designed to topple the government.
Lai’s son Sebastien said he was “cautiously optimistic” a deal could be struck, calling it “low hanging fruit” for the Chinese government.
“I’m not going to stop until my dad’s released,” he added. “God forbid, he dies in jail. That’s forever.”
--With assistance from Colum Murphy, Rebecca Choong Wilkins, Alan Wong, Ellen Milligan and Alex Wickham.
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