Lai Sung Yan

So it's the chapter, uh, The Grand Inquisitor from The Brothers Karamazov of Dostoevsky.

It's, it is, uh, uh, what's it called? Uh, Lord of the World from Robert Hugh Benson.

Oh, yeah

And then-

The 78-year-old founder of the Apple Daily newspaper was arrested in 2020 and earlier this year sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and publishing seditious material.

His son, Sebastian Lai, has spent years fighting for his father's freedom, and now he's looking to President Trump.

Trump has already raised Jimmy Lai's case directly with Chinese President Xi, but But after their meeting in May, Trump acknowledged that securing his release was a tough one for Xi.

Now as Trump and Xi meet again, Sebastian is urging the president to put his father's freedom back on the table.

What would it take to bring Jimmy Lai home? And what does his imprisonment tell us about the state of freedom and democracy in Hong Kong?

So the last time I saw him was at the end of 2020, you know, since then I've had two children who he's never met.

Sebastian Lai is the son of the imprisoned Jimmy Lai.

All I hear is that his health keeps getting worse and worse.

In Hong Kong, the number of political prisoners has also been rising over the six years since Beijing imposed a national security law to crush dissent.

One of the most prominent is Jimmy Lai, founder of one of the largest pro-democracy newspapers in Hong Kong, which folded following a 500-strong police raid in 2021.

His daughter Claire was diagnosed with cancer weeks ago and just started chemotherapy in London.

Lai received the news at the maximum security prison where he's serving a 20-year sentence.

She wants nothing more than to have him with her for this fight, Sebastian Lai said.

Sebastian Lai said he hears about his father's health declining every single day.

In a report two days before the hearing, the Committee for Freedom and Hong Kong Foundation found that Hong Kong prison guards have rehearsed Jimmy Lai's death.

It's really scary to hear, Sebastian Lai said.

And lo and behold, Pastor Jin arrived in the United States on July 4th, Independence Day.

You know, I think one thing that's not fully appreciated is the extent to which President Trump does advocate for political prisoners.

In his first term, there was Pastor Andrew Brunson in Turkey that he was able to free through his personal intervention.

We saw Pastor Ezra Jin.

You know, he squeeze the Shah of Iran, and instead we got the Mullahs, the Ayatollah.

Same thing in Nicaragua, where he squeezed Somoza, and then we got the Sandinistas.

I think President Trump deserves more credit, again, for raising the issue of political prisoners.

He also has, I think, sought to reground American foreign policy and the principles of the Declaration of Independence.