Jimmy Lai’s family responds to 20-year prison sentence

Jimmy Lai’s children have spoken out following his 20-year prison sentence, detailing international support as they work for a release.

Jimmy Lai’s family is calling on national leaders to help free the Catholic pro-democracy activist after he received a 20-year prison sentence from a Hong Kong high court.

“The life expectancy of the average male in Hong Kong is 83. My father was handed a 20-year sentence. He is five years from 83. Just looking at this objectively, this has to be solved, sovereign to sovereign,” Claire Lai, Jimmy Lai’s daughter, said during a Feb. 9 press conference.

Jimmy Lai, founder and publisher of the outspoken pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, was sentenced on Feb. 9 over what Chinese officials claim were national security violations. The sentencing follows Lai’s December conviction, which ended what Lai’s defenders have described as a politically motivated show trial.

Following the announcement, national leaders, lawmakers, and Lai’s family have spoken out about the court’s decision.

“Every time when the Hong Kong government could have done the right thing, they decided not to,” Sebastien Lai, Jimmy Lai’s son, said during the press conference. “It took decades and decades to build up the Hong Kong legal system to what it was, the respect that it had internationally. Within five years, this government essentially managed to destroy it.”

Hearing the sentence was “horrible,” Sebastien said. “Even though you expect this sentence to come, you’re still devastated by it,” he said.

The decades-long sentence is “essentially tantamount to a life sentence” or “a death sentence, because in the conditions that my father is being kept in, I don’t know if he even has a tenth of that,” Sebastien said.

At the sentencing hearing, Jimmy Lai “was stoic and he smiled almost as an act of defiance” to the “horrible people who are doing … horrible things,” Sebastien said. “It makes me remember one quote that Apple Daily had in its inaugural edition, and it says, ‘Are we not afraid of the handover in 1997? Of course, we’re afraid, but we refuse to be intimidated by fear.’”

“People who do amazing things like my father has done, courageous things, they feel like everybody else, but they refuse to be intimidated by fear,” Sebastien said. “Still to this day, he is still refusing to be intimidated by fear.”

Jimmy Lai “knows that he gave his all for his beliefs, for freedom, for democracy, for the people of Hong Kong, until there was no more to give,” Sebastien said. “You can’t control what these bullies, these horrible people do to you. You control what you do. And he has done that. And it’s incredible. It’s incredible that he’s still holding strong.”

“If you live always deterred by fear, you don’t really live at all,” Claire Lai said. “But my father, he always knew that, he always trusted in divine providence from the very first day of his arrest up until most recently. He knew that he was in God’s good hands, and he fully trusted that.”

‘Another solution’ needed for a release

President Donald Trump “has said multiple times that this is a case that he cares about. He’s mentioned it to Xi Jinping already,” Sebastien said.

Trump is scheduled to go to China and meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in April. The visit “will obviously be crucial,” Sebastien said. “And hopefully my father will still be OK health-wise until that point.”

“We’re hopeful that now that the sentence is in, that we can move on to hopefully a political, diplomatic, solution for his release, and hopefully, our father will be back with us in the not-too-distant future,” Claire said during a Feb. 9 interview with “EWTN News Nightly.”

“I think we recognized quite a while ago that the rule of law in Hong Kong no longer exists and that the system is broken … that’s why we have to look for another solution,” she said.

Claire detailed the “huge amount of support” her family has received, including national support from the U.K. and in the U.S. “from both sides of the political aisle.”

“President Trump has mentioned my father on multiple occasions,” Claire said. “Him and his administration have a proven track record of freeing the unjustly detained. So … we are hopeful that our father is next.”

The family hopes Jimmy can be released as soon as possible as his health declines. Claire detailed her father’s health has “deteriorated over the last five years.” She specifically highlighted his diabetes, failing eyesight and hearing, infections, and heart issues.

“We are extremely worried,” she said. “And just the conditions in which he’s kept are also getting worse. He doesn’t have any access to natural sunlight. He doesn’t have any access to fresh air.”

Amid his declining health and time in prison, Jimmy continues to be “sustained by” prayers, Claire said.