Jimmy Lai’s daughter provides latest update on her father: ‘It is very much about saving his life’

Jan 13, 2026 / 08:48 am

Catholic human rights advocate Jimmy Lai is still dealing with deteriorating health as presentencing mitigation hearings began on Jan. 12 in Hong Kong.

Lai was found guilty on Dec. 15, 2025, of multiple violations of China’s national security laws. The verdict brought an end to several years of what advocates have described as a politically motivated show trial.

Presentencing mitigation hearings began for the 78-year-old, who is facing up to life in prison. His health was at the forefront of the conversation between the prosecution and defense attorneys.

“Even the prosecution admits he has health issues and very substantial ones,” Jimmy Lai’s daughter Claire Lai told CNA in a Jan. 12 interview. “They don’t deny it. They say: ‘He has health issues, but it’s OK. It will be managed by the CSD’ [Correctional Service Department].”

“There is significant data showing how the CSD fails to manage people who are especially diabetic and of his age,” Claire said. “The life expectancy of Hong Kong males is 83. He is not far from that, and we are obviously extremely, extremely worried.”

Jimmy’s health has declined as “the conditions in which he’s kept have progressively gotten worse,” Claire said.

“My father has been kept in solitary confinement since the summer of 2020, with the exception of the one week when he was on bail because he was at home. He has been kept continuously in solitary confinement the entire time. There’s no sign that any of this will change.”

“When he’s moved around, whether it’s to go to court or to go to the showers, he is covered from head to toe in a thick black cloth so no one sees him and he doesn’t get to see anyone,” she said.

“He does not have any access to sunlight. There should be a window in his cell, which is smaller than most, which should lead outside and give him some access. In his case, it is deliberately sealed,” she said.

Claire said Jimmy “has one hour of exercise a day.” She added: “At the start of his incarceration, it was outdoors. And since then, they have covered the sky so he doesn’t get fresh air and he doesn’t get sunlight. The only light he gets is a reflection from a distant mirror in the corridor, if you can even call it [light].”

“The only social interaction he really gets is when family visits. Our family visits only add up to about 24 hours a year, if even that,” Claire said. “We are very worried that it will continue to be the case. Especially with the new prison rules.”

Claire detailed the prison rules that changed last summer to make family visits “more discretionary on the part of the CSD” and made aspects including pastoral visits “a lot more stringent.”

Faith continues to ‘protect’ Jimmy

In a subsequent interview with “EWTN News Nightly,” Claire highlighted her father’s Catholic faith and said it is what “protects his mind and his soul.”

While Jimmy’s “physical body is breaking down,” he continues to “read the Gospel every morning,” Claire said. He spends his time “praying and drawing the Crucifixion and the Blessed Mother.”

“On the issue of the Eucharist, I know the government has said that he receives it regularly,” Claire said. But “he receives it extremely intermittently. To be precise, he received it in the last two and a half years a total of 11 times. As a Catholic, that is not acceptable. We should at least receive it 52 times a year.”

Hope for a release

The only hope for a release is resolution on “a political level,” Claire said.

“It was very clear from the start that this was something that would be resolved leader to leader,” she said. “It isn’t something that can be resolved in the once-extremely promising but now-highly compromised Hong Kong legal system.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom has planned a visit to China, and President Donald Trump is expected to go in the coming months.

Claire said: “We hope that our father continues to be brought up and that this is something that can be resolved on a political level because that is the only way to save my father’s life.”

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