The son of Hong Kong media magnate Jimmy Lai appealed Wednesday for his father's release during a Congressional hearing in Washington one week before Chinese President Xi Jinping's planned visit to the US.
© Keith Tsuji/Getty Images
17/09/2026
by
Lusa
Sebastien Lai called for the release of his father for humanitarian reasons at a hearing of the Executive Committee of Congress on China, reported to the Associated Press (AP).
A Hong Kong court sentenced Lai to 20 years in prison in February following his conviction under a national security law imposed by Beijing.
Lai's daughter, Claire, did not attend the hearing after she was diagnosed with cancer. Your brother said she started chemotherapy in London last week.
“Let Jimmy Lai come home and stand next to her daughter at her hardest time,” he stressed, describing his father as “a 78-year-old man who has suffered enough.”.
American President Donald Trump had already addressed Lai's case with Xi before, including during a state visit to China in May.
“He told me this would be a difficult case,” Trump told journalists during the return flight from China.
Lai, a prominent critic from Beijing, founded a pro-democracy newspaper that was closed during a crackdown following the huge anti-government protests in the city in 2019.
“ At the age of 78, he is Hong Kong's oldest political prisoner, with a 20-year sentence hanging over him. If he is not released soon, most likely he will die in prison ", highlighted his son.
Xi and Trump are expected to meet in Washington on September 24.
It will be Xi's first visit to Washington in over a decade.
His last visit to the United States was in 2023, when he attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco.