Lawyers for a jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy publisher have asked for an urgent meeting with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a leading member of his international legal team said on Tuesday.
Jimmy Lai, the 75-year-old founder of the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, was arrested in 2020 during a crackdown on the city's pro-democracy movement. He is fighting collusion charges under a Beijing-imposed national security law and faces up to life in prison if convicted. Last month, the team called for the UK government to take immediate action to secure Lai's release ahead of his high-profile national security trial after he was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison on fraud charges linked to lease violations.
The meeting request is the latest attempt from his legal team to urge the British Government to step into the case of Lai, a Hong Kong and British citizen.