Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Sebastien Lai, the son of jailed former Hong Kong media owner Jimmy Lai, appealed for his father’s release at a congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday, a week before Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit the US. He asked for Jimmy Lai to be freed on humanitarian grounds as his family deals with his daughter Claire’s cancer treatment.
Jimmy Lai, 78, was sentenced by a Hong Kong court to 20 years in prison in February after being convicted under a Beijing-imposed national security law. His case has also been raised earlier by US President Donald Trump with Xi, who is expected to meet Trump in Washington on September 24.
advertisement
At the hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Sebastien Lai said his sister Claire could not attend after being diagnosed with cancer. He said she began chemotherapy in London last week.
“Let Jimmy Lai come home to his family and let him sit beside his daughter in her hardest moment,” he said, describing his father as “a 78-year-old man who has already suffered enough”. He also said, “At 78, he is the oldest political prisoner in Hong Kong, with his 20-year sentence looming over him. If he’s not freed soon, he will most likely die in prison.”
Trump has raised Lai’s case with Xi before, including during a state visit to China in May. “He told me that would be a tough one,” Trump told reporters during the flight home from China.
Jimmy Lai is a prominent critic of Beijing and founded a pro-democracy newspaper that was shut down during a crackdown after Hong Kong’s massive anti-government protests in 2019. Xi and Trump are expected to meet in Washington on September 24. It will be Xi’s first visit to Washington in more than a decade, and he last visited the United States in 2023, when he attended the APEC summit in San Francisco.
The appeal in Washington brought renewed attention to Jimmy Lai’s imprisonment, with his son urging his release before Xi’s scheduled visit as the family faces both his 20-year sentence and Claire Lai’s cancer treatment.
With PTI Inputs
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
