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Jimmy Lai’s daughter, “Trump will be the president to free him”\n <\/p>\n
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Jimmy Lai’s daughter, “Trump will be the president to free him”<\/p>\n
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\n As high-level talks continue in Beijing between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, supporters are waiting for any sign of movement on imprisoned Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai.\n <\/p>\n
\n Lai, 78, is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted under the 2020 national security law imposed following Beijing\u2019s crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong. He was also convicted on sedition charges. He denies all charges.\n <\/p>\n
\n Before departing for the long-anticipated visit, Trump said on multiple occasions that he intended to raise Lai\u2019s case directly with Xi.\n <\/p>\n
\n Lai\u2019s daughter, Claire Lai, told CNN\u2019s Jim Sciutto she believes the US president is the key figure capable of securing her father\u2019s release.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cPresident Trump and his administration have shown their commitment to freeing my father on numerous occasions,\u201d she said. \u201cI am extremely confident that he will be the president to free him.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n When asked whether that bipartisan political pressure from the US could influence Beijing\u2019s thinking, Claire said this is not an issue that will \u201cgo away as the political winds change.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cShould my father die a martyr behind bars,\u201d she said, \u201cit will be devastating for the (Chinese Communist) Party\u2026 and I hope President Trump, he has a reputation of being a liberating chief, can help them see the wisdom in releasing my father.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Claire Lai\n <\/p>\n
\n Her comments come as she says her father\u2019s health continues to deteriorate in custody, with the family receiving limited and increasingly inconsistent updates about his condition.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cMy father is aging\u2026 the average life expectancy in Hong Kong last year was 82 to 83. He\u2019s turning 79 this year. With that many health issues, we\u2019re just extremely worried.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Hong Kong response: Responding to concerns about Lai\u2019s condition, the Hong Kong government said \u201cthe medical services received by Lai Chee-ying (referring to Lai by his full Chinese name) in custody are adequate and comprehensive\u2026\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cDuring the plea in mitigation in court on January 12 and 13 this year, the senior counsel representing Lai Chee-ying confirmed repeatedly that Lai had made no complaints about the treatment he received while in custody\u201d and that Lai and other defendants were found guilty after a \u201cfair and open trial.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The Hong Kong government said Lai and his co-defendants were convicted \u201cafter a fair and open trial. Lai does not make any appeal against his conviction or sentence.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n China\u2019s Foreign Ministry in Beijing did not respond to CNN\u2019s request for comment. But a spokesperson this week said, \u201cLai Chee-ying is the principal mastermind and perpetrator behind the riots that shook Hong Kong. Hong Kong affairs are China\u2019s internal affairs. The central government of China firmly supports the Hong Kong judicial authorities in performing duties in accordance with the law.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jimmy Lai’s daughter, “Trump will be the president to free him” Jimmy Lai’s daughter, “Trump will be the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-670487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}