Jimmy Lai: The Voice China Tried to Silence on World Press Freedom Day

George Orwell once nailed it: true liberty is the right to say what others don't want to hear. This World Press Freedom Day, let's remember the folks who paid the price for that freedom—like Jimmy Lai, who’s currently locked up in Stanley maximum security prison in Hong Kong. His crime? Publishing exactly what China's leaders would rather sweep under the rug.

Jimmy’s story reads like a movie: escaping Communist China at 12, grinding it out in a Hong Kong clothing factory, then hustling his way up to launch Giordano—a global clothing brand. But the real plot twist came after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Witnessing that crackdown, Jimmy ditched the business scene for activism, determined to keep the freedom flame alive in Hong Kong.

In 1995, he founded Apple Daily, which quickly became the loudest megaphone for free speech and democracy in the city. Jimmy poured $100 million of his own cash into the paper, making sure it stayed independent and fearless. It’s not every day you see a mogul put principle before profit, but Jimmy did just that—even when the Chinese Communist Party labeled him a troublemaker and started shutting down his businesses.

While other Hong Kong tycoons played it safe, Jimmy stood tall—despite threats, arrests, and eventually, imprisonment. He could have escaped, but he stayed, facing down the National Security Law and watching Apple Daily shuttered. Now, at 77, he’s spent four years behind bars, but his spirit? Still unbroken. I have to say, if resilience was an Olympic sport, Jimmy would be Michael Phelps.

His fight for press freedom isn’t just a headline; it’s a symbol for everyone who values the right to speak truth to power. There’s been bipartisan support for his release from the U.S., U.K., Canada, and the EU. President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio have even advocated for him, and the international community keeps calling for justice—but Jimmy remains in his cell, along with nine other journalists who dared to defy censorship in Hong Kong.

His story isn’t over yet. On this World Press Freedom Day, the call is simple: let’s not let courage like Jimmy’s go to waste. It’s time to secure his release and let him spend his twilight years with his family, not behind bars.