Jimmy Lai’s son pleads in Washington for his father’s release ahead of Xi’s US visit

WASHINGTON (AP) — The son of imprisoned former Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai appealed for his father’s release at a congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday, one week before Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit the U.S.

Sebastien Lai urged his father’s release on humanitarian grounds at a hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. A Hong Kong court sentenced Lai to 20 years in prison in February following his conviction under a Beijing-imposed national security law.

Lai’s daughter, Claire, did not appear at the hearing after being diagnosed with cancer. Her brother 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.”

U.S. President Donald 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.

Lai, a prominent critic of Beijing, founded a pro-democracy newspaper that was shut down during a crackdown following the city’s massive anti-government protests in 2019.

“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,” his son said.

Xi and Trump are expected to meet in Washington on Sept. 24. It will be Xi’s first visit to Washington in more than a decade. He last visited the United States in 2023, when he attended the APEC summit in San Francisco.