Jimmy Lai getting access to medical care, sunlight in prison, Hong Kong legal team says

International legal team representing former media tycoon appealed to UN earlier this month about Lai’s living conditions in prison

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Jimmy Lai has been remanded in custody since December 2020. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:48pm, 27 Sep 2024Updated: 4:30pm, 11 Oct 2024

Hong Kong lawyers representing Jimmy Lai Chee-ying have said the former media tycoon is receiving appropriate medical attention for his health problems and has access to sunlight in his cell after concerns about his treatment in prison were raised with the United Nations.

Law firm Robertsons, which represents the tycoon in several legal cases, issued the update on Friday.

“Mr Lai wishes to make known that he has been receiving appropriate medical attention for conditions suffered by him, including diabetes,” the law firm said.

“He has access to daylight through the windows in the corridor outside his cell, albeit he cannot see the sky. He exercises for an hour every day in a secure area.”

An international legal team representing Lai and his son Sebastien Lai made an urgent appeal earlier this month to UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Alice Edwards regarding the former tycoon’s living conditions in prison.

Lai has been remanded in custody since December 2020 on two charges of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and a third count of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious materials through the now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid newspaper.