The daughter of a British citizen imprisoned by China for 20 years and held in solitary confinement has revealed that she has been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of cancer.
Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong democracy activist and media tycoon, has spent the past six years behind bars. His son has described the sentence imposed by a court in the Beijing-controlled territory as a “death sentence.”
Claire Lai has now spoken publicly about her diagnosis after being told she had cancer at the age of 30.
Mr Lai, 78, has reportedly endured five years in solitary confinement and has been denied medication for diabetes. His condition has deteriorated severely, with his nails falling out and his teeth decaying.
Although he faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison, Mr Lai is said to have remained composed throughout his ordeal. That resolve reportedly faltered when he learned about his daughter’s illness.
Claire Lai has described how her father broke down in tears after hearing the news of her cancer diagnosis.
She said: “During his six years in prison, my father has faced everything with remarkable strength.
“Even when he was seriously unwell, suffering from heart and back problems and becoming too weak to stand. But hearing about my diagnosis was the one moment when he truly broke down and cried.”
Claire Lai has revealed that she was diagnosed with an “aggressive” cancer at the age of 30
Mr Lai became a British citizen in 1996, before Hong Kong was transferred to Chinese rule. He was later targeted over his outspoken criticism of Beijing through his Apple Daily newspaper, as well as his participation in pro-democracy protests and vigils.
He was arrested weeks after China introduced its National Security Law for Hong Kong and has remained imprisoned since December 2020. Critics have warned that the lengthy sentence could effectively amount to life imprisonment — and, given his worsening health, a death sentence.
Claire said she first suspected something was wrong after becoming unwell during a run.
She was shocked because she is an avid runner – and later discovered a large lump on her neck.
‘Originally, I was diagnosed with mumps. But mumps is supposed to disappear after two weeks but this lump was still there after five weeks. I got a second opinion, then an ultrasound and a biopsy,’ she told The Times.
Doctors informed her she had an ‘aggressive’ form of cancer but that it was caught early.
She said: ‘My dad always encouraged me to be sporty so, in a lot of ways, I owe the fact that I found out so quickly to him because it was the fact that my body could do things and suddenly it couldn’t that I knew something was really wrong.’
Ms Lai has found it increasingly difficult to see her father because it has become unsafe for her to spend time in Hong Kong after advocating for her father publicly.
Hong Kong democracy campaigner and media mogul Jimmy Lai (pictured) has spent the last six years in prison and was handed what his son described as a ‘death sentence’ by a court in the Beijing-controlled territory
Ms Lai first realised something could be wrong when she began to feel unwell on a run
She has not seen her father for more than a year.
They instead communicate through letters – but she says the process is agonisingly slow.
‘I wrote to him as soon as I got my diagnosis but it takes a long time for them to go in and out. I haven’t got a letter yet from him because there have been a lot of delays,’ she said.
Instead, her family in Hong Kong, who are allowed a single visit for 30 minutes per week, told Mr Lai the news.
Ms Lai added: ‘I wish I could have told him myself but I do think that seeing him cry would have probably made me cry and that would have probably not been the most productive conversation.’
While she is now undergoing chemotherapy, the treatment means she cannot fly. She worries this will limit her ability to advocate for her father internationally and means she cannot see her 78-year-old father if his health deteriorates.
This year, the prison began refusing the family access to his medical reports.
She added: ‘Securing my father’s freedom is both in China’s interest and the UK’s interest. I’m confident the prime minister won’t forget about another British national who is getting older.’
Mr Lai was convicted in December for conspiring to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security, and of conspiracy to publish seditious articles, offences that carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
His son Sebastien said the ‘draconian’ jail term was devastating for the family and life-threatening for his father, adding that it marked the ‘total destruction of the Hong Kong legal system and the end of justice’.
Mr Lai was one of the first prominent figures to be arrested under the new security law in 2020.
Lai was convicted in December of conspiring to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security, and of conspiracy to publish seditious articles, offences that carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment
Within a year, some of Apple Daily’s senior journalists also were arrested and the newspaper shut down in June 2021.
Lai founded Apple Daily, a now-defunct newspaper known for its fierce criticism of the governments in Hong Kong and Beijing.
Hong Kong’s decline in press freedom has accelerated since the security law was introduced, with the city ranking 140th out of 180 territories in the 2025 press freedom index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.
