cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/48301399 > The daughter of Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy tycoon jailed in Hong Kong, has expressed concerns about her father’s deteriorating health in prison, saying that his fingernails “sometimes fall off” and his teeth are rotting. > > Lai, 78, has been detained since December 2020 and faces life in prison. Earlier this month he was convicted of colluding with foreign forces under the city’s controversial national security law (NSL). > > Hong Kong and Chinese authorities have denied that Lai has been mistreated in prison, saying he is in “good health”. > > The BBC has seen a letter written by Lai’s family urging UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to call for Lai’s release when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping next month. > > His daughter Claire Lai, who is in exile in London, told the BBC that she fears she “may never see him again”. > > “Of course I worry that my father is going to be a martyr, and I don’t want him to be a martyr. But I would not be here today, I would not be speaking out if I didn’t think this was his best chance of reuniting with our family.” > > She described her father as an “extremely robust and strong man” when he went to prison, but said over the last year he has “lost a significant amount of weight”. > > "He is diabetic, he has heart issues which he never had in the past. He has fingernails that turn purplish grey and sometimes fall off. He has teeth that are rotting. > > […]