Jailed Hong Kong tycoon’s ‘enamel rotting and fingernails falling off’

[ad_1] <img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/bade/live/e1f591e0-e61e-11f0-ba84-11119e07236b.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/bade/live/e1f591e0-e61e-11f0-ba84-11119e07236b.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/bade/live/e1f591e0-e61e-11f0-ba84-11119e07236b.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/bade/live/e1f591e0-e61e-11f0-ba84-11119e07236b.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/bade/live/e1f591e0-e61e-11f0-ba84-11119e07236b.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/bade/live/e1f591e0-e61e-11f0-ba84-11119e07236b.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/bade/live/e1f591e0-e61e-11f0-ba84-11119e07236b.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/bade/live/e1f591e0-e61e-11f0-ba84-11119e07236b.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="AFP via Getty Images Extreme close up of Jimmy Lai wearing a blue collared shirt looking into the camera" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> AFP through Getty Pictures Jimmy Lai is seen right here in a 2020 picture taken months earlier than he went to jail

The daughter of Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy tycoon jailed in Hong Kong, has expressed considerations about her father's deteriorating well being in jail, saying that his fingernails "generally fall off" and his enamel are rotting.

Lai, 78, has been detained since December 2020 and faces life in jail. Earlier this month he was convicted of colluding with international forces underneath the town's controversial nationwide safety regulation (NSL).

Chinese language authorities have denied that Lai has been mistreated in jail, and stated he's in "good well being".

The BBC has seen a letter written by Lai's household urging UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer name for Lai's launch when he meets Chinese language President Xi Jinping subsequent month.

His daughter Claire Lai, who's in exile in London, instructed the BBC that she fears she "could by no means see him once more".

"In fact I fear that my father goes to be a martyr, and I do not need him to be a martyr. However I might not be right here immediately, I might not be talking out if I did not assume this was his finest probability of reuniting with our household."

She described her father as an "extraordinarily strong and robust man" when he went to jail, however has during the last 12 months he has "misplaced a big quantity of weight".

"He's diabetic, he has coronary heart points which he by no means had up to now. He has fingernails that flip purplish gray and generally fall off. He has enamel which might be rotting.

"He has again and waist pains. Some days it is painful for him to face. Typically he cannot stand. And a few days he cannot even get off the bed."

Lai's household has on a number of events flagged considerations about his deteriorating well being. Lai's son, Sebastien, instructed the BBC earlier this 12 months that his father's "physique is breaking down".

A spokesperson for the Commissioner's Workplace of the Chinese language International Ministry in Hong Kong acknowledged earlier this month that Lai's "lawful rights and pursuits have been totally protected, and he's in good well being".

They added that "a secure, humane, acceptable, and wholesome custodial atmosphere in accordance with the regulation" has been supplied for Lai.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/6d1f/live/326228b0-e619-11f0-bc37-99d14a64a534.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/6d1f/live/326228b0-e619-11f0-bc37-99d14a64a534.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6d1f/live/326228b0-e619-11f0-bc37-99d14a64a534.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/6d1f/live/326228b0-e619-11f0-bc37-99d14a64a534.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/6d1f/live/326228b0-e619-11f0-bc37-99d14a64a534.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/6d1f/live/326228b0-e619-11f0-bc37-99d14a64a534.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/6d1f/live/326228b0-e619-11f0-bc37-99d14a64a534.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6d1f/live/326228b0-e619-11f0-bc37-99d14a64a534.png.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Claire Lai with her hair in a bun, wearing a grey blazer. She is in the middle of speaking." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Claire Lai is on a marketing campaign to get her father launched from jail

Lai, a UK citizen, is essentially the most distinguished particular person to be charged underneath the NSL, launched in 2020 in response to large pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

Beijing defends the regulation as needed to keep up stability in Hong Kong, however critics say it has successfully outlawed dissent.

Lai was accused of lobbying international governments to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and China. He was additionally discovered responsible underneath a separate colonial-era regulation of publishing seditious materials in his now-defunct Apple Each day newspaper.

After Lai's conviction earlier this month, the UK condemned it as "politically motivated persecution", saying that he had been "focused... for peacefully exercising his proper to freedom of expression".

"The UK has repeatedly referred to as for the Nationwide Safety Regulation to be repealed and for an finish to the prosecution of all people charged underneath it," the International, Commonwealth and Growth Workplace stated.

Of their assertion earlier this month, Chinese language authorities stated Western makes an attempt "to affect judicial verdicts by political stress blatantly trample on the spirit of the rule of regulation and totally expose their hypocritical 'double requirements'. The Chinese language facet firmly opposes this."