By Andrew MacAskill
LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) – The son of jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai appealed to the British government on Monday to do “much more” to secure his elderly father’s release and he criticised Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s efforts to reset London’s relations with Beijing.
Hong Kong’s most vocal China critic, Jimmy Lai, 78, was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in jail on charges of colluding with foreign forces and publishing seditious materials, prompting a renewed chorus of concern in the West over Beijing’s clampdown on freedoms in the former British colony.
Jimmy Lai, a British citizen, denied the charges against him and told the court he was a “political prisoner”.
“Much more needs to be done and quickly because, if not, he’s going to pass away in prison,” Sebastien Lai, also a British citizen, told Reuters in London.
He said it had been a mistake for Starmer to visit China last month without first demanding that his father be released from jail.
“I wish the prime minister did more,” he said. “We’re not asking the world. This isn’t a hard thing for them to do.”
Starmer went to China with dozens of business leaders for the first visit by a British leader to the country in eight years. While there he called for Jimmy Lai’s release but the focus of his visit was reviving economic ties.
Starmer’s spokesperson said the government’s engagement with Beijing had allowed ministers to raise human rights concerns, including Jimmy Lai’s case.
“Having a policy of not engaging at all with China is not a policy that benefits Britain or British citizens,” the spokesperson told reporters on Monday.
Earlier, the government responded to the Jimmy Lai verdict by announcing an expansion of the visa route for those wanting to move from Hong Kong to Britain.
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill, additional reporting Alistair Smout, editing by Gareth Jones)
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