Feeling abandoned by Britain Five arbitrarily held for years

The cases of five British men, held for years without a fair trial, are being highlighted as MPs, families, and campaigners fight for their release and better help for all those arbitrarily detained abroad.

- Geneva Abdul , Patrick Wintour & Helen Davidson

Jimmy Lai Hong Kong

Later and he was held on remand. That rolled into a sentence for "unlawful assembly" convictions related to the 2019 protests and Tiananmen massacre vigils. He is now serving another sentence of more than five years for a lease violation, which critics have called a trumped-up charge designed to keep him behind bars.

The 76-year-old activist is being held in solitary confinement, where his lawyers say he sees daylight only through windows in the corridor outside his cell and is taken out once a day for an hour's exercise. The committed Catholic has not received communion while detained, which his son, Sebastien, describes as "petty".

His trial resumed last week after multiple delays and government interventions, including efforts to bar a UK lawyer, Timothy Owen, from representing him. He is facing a life sentence if convicted, but even a few extra years are of concern for Lai. "He's not doing well, unfortunately," said Sebastien Lai, who is lobbying western governments to help release his father. "His health has gotten much worse, and he was too sick to go to court a few months ago."

Lai is a full UK citizen who has only ever held English papers. Receiving British national (overseas) status was "the first time any state recognised him as a person", said his son.

But he and others say the UK government's support has been "ridiculously" lacking, far behind those of other countries such as the US, Canada and Australia, which have lobbied for him.

"It took two years before [the UK] started asking for consular access," said Mark Sabah, the director of the London-based Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong. "Two years before they even said his name at the dispatch box."

Sebastien Lai said Lammy's call for Lai's release while on a visit to China last month was welcome, but he wanted his father's case raised in all government engagements with Beijing.