In an article published by the Washington Examiner, TCA’s Ashley McGuire explains how the Jimmy Lai verdict feels personal to everyone who stands for the principles of freedom and notes that his courage to endure imprisonment for the sake of faith and freedom will last far beyond his wrongful conviction. In the piece entitled, “Jimmy Lai is a Living Martyr,” she writes:
“The verdict is not a surprise. No one actually expected the Chinese Communist Party to acquit Jimmy Lai. That would be to admit that it was wrong in imprisoning him in the first place. And admitting wrongdoing is nowhere in the totalitarian playbook.
But the verdict still hurts. It hurts because it’s personal. And it’s personal because, in a sense, Jimmy Lai stands for each one of us. Lai is the embodiment of heroism that each of us is called to and that deep down each of us aspires to. Each of us has a stake in his principled stand against evil….
…. A gentle giant, Lai is not in solitary confinement because he is a Christian, and yet he is. A media tycoon who ran Hong Kong’s only independent news outlet, Lai refused to become a mouthpiece for the CCP when it came calling. A billionaire, he could have taken his riches and fled to Europe, reading about the plight of his countrymen on the pages of his own media platform-turned-propaganda machine by the CCP.
Instead, he credits his Christian faith with giving him the strength to stay and fight for the truth and the dignity of his people. ‘If they can induce fear in you, that’s the cheapest way to control you … The only way to defeat the way of intimidation is to face up to fear and don’t let it frighten you,’ he said in an interview.”
Read Ashley McGuire’s statement by The Catholic Association.
