During President Xi Jinping's recent visit to the US President Trump spoke with him about releasing former Apple Daily publisher turned political prisoner Jimmy Lai, sparking hopes of a release. The 78 year old is currently serving a 20 year sentence after being arrested in Hong Kong during pro-democracy protests. Apple Daily's offices were also raided and their publishing capability destroyed.
When asked by a reporter for the Daily Signal, Elizabeth Mitchell, last week about whether Trump had discussed “the release of political prisoners such as American Min Zin and Jimmy Lai,” Trump said, “I did with President Xi,” and, “we talked, and I think we had some very, very important discussions,” adding, ”hopefully, fruitful discussions.”
Jimmy Lai’s daughter Claire told the Daily Wire that, Trump "and his administration have again shown their continued commitment to securing my father’s freedom.” She added, “This gives me a great deal of confidence that it is under President Trump’s leadership that my father will be freed and [I] look forward to the day we see him again."
Claire Lai also said “My father is a man who believed in the rights we were promised and defended them when it was perfectly legal to do so. He wishes only now to spend his twilight years serving Our Lord with his family.”
Claire, who has recently been diagnosed with cancer, and is being treated in the UK, told the Daily Wire that “the hardest part of her experience this far has been hearing about ‘dad crying whenever he talks about it’ after he learned of her diagnosis in prison.”
Lai, a British citizen, was the founder and publisher of the now defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily in Hong Kong. He remains in prison in Hong Kong under China’s national security laws. Many advocates for Lai say that not enough has been done by the UK government to bring about his freedom. Lily Tang Williams, a political commentator and activist, called on leaders back in February to demand Lai’s release, calling it “shameful” that the UK has not more strongly defended Lai.
Lai was arrested in 2020 after Beijing imposed the national security law in Hong Kong. He was accused of colluding with foreign forces and publishing seditious materials, according to authorities at the time. The newspaper was raided, had its assets frozen and publication was forced to cease in 2021.
Human rights organizations, foreign lawmakers along with freedom of the press groups have said that Lai’s jailing amounts to a larger crackdown on dissent and independent journalism.
