Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s (黎智英) son Sabastien Lai (黎崇恩) said he is pleased that US President Donald Trump may discuss his father’s release with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during their upcoming meeting on Thursday.
His father is in poor health, Sabastien said yesterday in an exclusive interview with the Central News Agency, urging the international community to save his life and push for his release.
Speaking outside the Italian Senate after attending a solidarity event in Rome, he said that his father, who has diabetes, is physically breaking down after nearly five years in detention. “This is not just an issue of freedom. It is a life that needs to be saved,” he said.
Photo: Associated Press file photo
Jimmy Lai, a British-Chinese dual citizen and supporter of the pro-democracy protests that swept Hong Kong in 2019, was arrested under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law in August 2020.
The 78-year-old founder of the now-closed Apple Daily newspaper pleaded not guilty in January last year to charges of collusion with foreign forces and sedition.
The law, imposed in June 2020, punishes what Beijing broadly defines as secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign collusion with up to life in jail.
Jimmy Lai has been held in solitary confinement under maximum security, a treatment Sebastien Lai described as intended to convey: “Nobody cares about you, you will die alone, you are not important.”
This is obviously not true, he said.
“Jimmy Lai’s story has moved many people around the world,” he added.
Sebastien Lai made the remarks at a news conference yesterday held by Italian Senator Giulio Terzi, former Italian foreign minister, to voice support for Jimmy Lai.
He said his father, a devout Catholic, despite severe restrictions on communication, remains steadfast in his faith, believing he did the right thing under God’s will.
He also said it was an honor that his mother and sister met Pope Leo XIV on Oct. 15.
Jimmy Lai’s verdict could be announced in the coming weeks, he said, making this the best time to act and for the international community to provide stronger support.
The US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia and other countries have already called for his father’s release and asked Italy to join like-minded nations in calling for his immediate and unconditional release, he said.
Jimmy Lai has given everything for freedom, he said.
Public support shown in democratic countries can tell the Hong Kong government: "If we were in the same situation, we would do the same thing to protect the rights we once had in the free world," he said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
An American scientist convicted of lying to US authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen, China, to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain. Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and restoring movement in paralyzed people. It also has potential military applications: Scientists at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting
Jailed media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai (黎智英) has been awarded Deutsche Welle’s (DW) freedom of speech award for his contribution to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The German public broadcaster on Thursday said Lai would be presented in absentia with the 12th iteration of the award on June 23 at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. Deutsche Welle director-general Barbara Massing praised the 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered news outlet Apple Daily for standing “unwaveringly for press freedom in Hong Kong at great personal risk.” “With Apple Daily, he gave journalists a platform for free reporting and a voice to the democracy movement in
PHILIPPINE COMMITTEE: The head of the committee that made the decision said: ‘If there is nothing to hide, there is no reason to hide, there is no reason to obstruct’ A Philippine congressional committee on Wednesday ruled that there was “probable cause” to impeach Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte after hearing allegations of unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds and threats to have the president assassinated. The unanimous decision of the 53-member committee in the Philippine House of Representatives sends the two impeachment complaints to deliberations and voting by the entire lower chamber, which has more than 300 lawmakers. The complaints centered on Duterte’s alleged illegal use and mishandling of intelligence funds from the vice president’s office, and from her time as education secretary under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Duterte and the
Burmese President Min Aung Hlaing yesterday cut all prisoners’ sentences by one-sixth, a blanket measure that a source close to deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi said would further shorten her detention. Aung San Suu Kyi has been sequestered since a 2021 military coup, but the senior member of her dissolved National League for Democracy (NLD) party said that while her term had been reduced, her remaining sentence is still unclear. “We also don’t know exactly how many years she has left,” the source told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. The military toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government
RSS