Trump asks Xi Jinping to release Jimmy Lai and says he ‘feels so badly’ about media tycoon’s jailing
Trump ‘feels so badly’ for Jimmy Lai as he asks Xi Jinping to release him
- US president Donald Trump has asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to consider releasing British media mogul Jimmy Lai, who was recently convicted of sedition in Hong Kong.
- Lai, 78, was found guilty of colluding with foreign forces, conspiring to publish seditious articles, and fraudulently breaching lease conditions, charges he had denied.
- His conviction, viewed in the West as a barometer of press freedom and judicial independence in Hong Kong, has drawn widespread international condemnation.
- The British government summoned the Chinese ambassador to protest the conviction and demanded Lai's immediate release, with Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper calling it a "politically motivated persecution".
- China responded by warning foreign powers against "smearing" Hong Kong’s justice system and interfering in its internal affairs, urging respect for its sovereignty.