Claire Lai, the daughter of jailed British media tycoon Jimmy Lai, has revealed she has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. She is 30 years old.
Her father, Hong Kong democracy advocate and founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, has been imprisoned for six years. His conviction on charges of collusion with foreign forces and publishing seditious articles carries a potential life sentence. Lai, 78, was arrested in December 2020, shortly after China implemented its National Security Law in Hong Kong.
Claire Lai shared that her father, who has endured solitary confinement and faced denial of medical treatment for conditions like diabetes, broke down in tears upon learning of her diagnosis. "My father, in his six years of imprisonment, he has taken everything in his stride," she told The Times. "Even when he was ill, when he had heart problems and back problems and was too weak to stand. But that was the one time he really broke down crying."
Ming Lai discovered she was unwell during a run, noticing a persistent lump on her neck that doctors initially misdiagnosed as mumps. After a second opinion, an ultrasound, and a biopsy, she received the cancer diagnosis. "Doctors informed her she had an 'aggressive' form of cancer but that it was caught early," the report stated. She attributed the early detection to her father's encouragement of a sporty lifestyle, which made her aware when her body began to falter.
Due to her advocacy for her father, Claire Lai said it has become unsafe for her to travel to Hong Kong, and she has not seen him in over a year. Communication is now primarily through letters, a process she described as agonizingly slow. Her family in Hong Kong conveyed the news of her diagnosis to her father during their weekly visits. Lai expressed a wish to have informed her father directly but acknowledged that witnessing his tears might have hindered a productive conversation.
Currently undergoing chemotherapy, Claire Lai is unable to fly. She worries this will impede her international advocacy efforts for her father and prevent her from visiting him should his health decline further. The prison system has also begun refusing the family access to Jimmy Lai's medical reports.
Jimmy Lai, who gained British citizenship in 1996, was a vocal critic of Beijing through his newspaper. Apple Daily ceased publication in June 2021 after several senior journalists were arrested. Hong Kong's press freedom has significantly declined since the security law's introduction, with the city ranking 140th out of 180 territories in Reporters Without Borders' 2025 press freedom index.
His son, Sebastien Lai, previously described the sentence as a "death sentence" and a blow to the Hong Kong legal system. Claire Lai stated she is confident that the UK prime minister will not forget about her father, a British national aging in prison.