{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415845", "The Epoch Times article on Smith hearing'Jimmy Lai's Son Pleads for Ailing Father's Release Ahead of Xi's US Visit'", "2026-09-17", "2026", "2026-09", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "By Eva Fu and Frank Fang\n\nPublished September 17, 2026\n\nWASHINGTON\u2014The son of imprisoned Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai has appealed for his father\u2019s release on humanitarian grounds ahead of Chinese leader Xi Jinping\u2019s expected meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.\n\nLai founded the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily. He was detained in 2020 under the Beijing-imposed national security law and sentenced to 20 years in prison in February.\n\nSebastien Lai described the \u201cpainful realization\u201d of imagining his elderly father\u2019s physical and mental state if they were ever reunited, five years after their last meeting.\n\nSebastien Lai (R) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) stand for a photo after a Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing regarding the continued imprisonment of his father, Jimmy Lai, on Capitol Hill on Sept. 16, 2026 Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo\n\nJimmy Lai outside West Kowloon Magistrates' Court in Hong Kong on Sept. 18, 2020. Sung Pi-lung/The Epoch Times\n\n\u201cI hear about his health declining every single day,\u201d Sebastien Lai said on Sept. 16 at a congressional hearing hosted by the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China. \u201cIt\u2019s really sad. It\u2019s really worrying.\u201d\n\nSebastien Lai\u2019s sister, Claire Lai, was diagnosed with cancer recently and is undergoing chemotherapy in London.\n\n\u201cMy father learned of his own daughter\u2019s diagnosis from a maximum-security prison. He cannot hold her hand. She wants nothing more than to have him with her for this fight,\u201d Sebastien Lai said.\n\n\u201cWe hope the Chinese authorities will consider what compassionate release would mean for her and for a 78-year-old man who has already suffered enough.\n\n\u201cMy father poses no threat. His imprisonment makes him a symbol of injustice. His death in prison would be a disgrace.\u201d\n\nHe said that his father\u2019s release was just a \u201cphone call away\u201d for Xi.\n\nSebastien Lai speaks with reporters after a Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing regarding the continued imprisonment of his father, Jimmy Lai, on Capitol Hill on Sept. 16, 2026. Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo\n\nApple Daily was forced to cease operations in Hong Kong in June 2021, after 500 police officers raided its newsroom and arrested its top executives.\n\nAt the time, the newspaper was known for its critical coverage of the Chinese Communist Party and the Hong Kong government, particularly during the years of pro-democracy street protests in the former British colony.\n\n\u201cThis is all about whether or not journalists can report freely when the government can shut down a newspaper and prosecute its publisher,\u201d Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), the commission\u2019s co-chair, said at the hearing.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s about whether a society can retain meaningful freedom of speech when criticizing those in power becomes a national security offense.\u201d\n\nJimmy Lai has spent more than 2,000 days in prison since his arrest in August 2020. He was found guilty of two counts of \u201cconspiracy to collude with foreign forces\u201d under the national security law and a third count of \u201csedition\u201d under a colonial-era law.\n\nThe national security law criminalizes speeches or actions deemed secessionist, subversive, or terrorist, as well as those viewed as colluding with foreign forces against the Chinese communist regime. Punishments can be as severe as life imprisonment.\n\nSpeaking in an interview after the hearing, Sebastien Lai noted a recent report by the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation that states that guards at the place where his father has been imprisoned had \u201cformally rehearsed procedures in the event that Lai dies in custody.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really scary to hear,\u201d he said, saying that the Hong Kong authorities\u2019 prosecution of his father is a \u201creal disgrace.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey went through all this kangaroo court show trial and found nothing. His record is unblemished, yet they still keep going.\u201d\n\nTrump raised the cases of Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, leader of a prominent underground church in China, and Lai during his May summit with Xi in Beijing, later saying Xi had called Lai\u2019s case \u201ca tough one\u201d for the Chinese leader.\n\nJin returned to the United States in early July, but no such breakthrough has come in Lai\u2019s case.\n\nSmith and three other lawmakers on the commission, on Sept. 16, introduced a bill that would require the State Department to impose sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials responsible for or complicit in the death of Hong Kong political prisoners.\n\nTrump is scheduled to meet with Xi on Sept. 24.\n\nSmith urged Trump to make Lai\u2019s case a priority during the meeting.", 1, "2026-09-19T09:11:33Z", "2026-09-19T09:12:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415845"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8065630681812763, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}