Jimmy Lai’s son criticises Starmer for not ‘doing enough’ when he met Xipublished at 02:33 GMT
02:33 GMT
Image source, Getty Images
Jimmy Lai’s son Sebastien had earlier said the UK has not done enough to advocate for his father’s release. His criticism came days after Keir Starmer visited Beijing, making him the first British Prime Minister to do so in eight years.
“If it is so important, then surely there should be some conditionalities put on my father’s release. The trip was a big thing to have been given away,” the younger Lai said at a parliamentary hearing last week on his father’s case, according to The Guardian.
The “values [that the UK stands for] are being locked up along with” his 78-year-old father, Lai said.
The UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Affairs issued a statement following Starmer’s visit, saying that “an opportunity to secure [Jimmy Lai’s] release has been squandered by weak diplomacy”.
“These opportunities will cost Jimmy Lai his life,” the group said.