Guilty. 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.
His story is a timeless one. Since the dawn of Christianity, we Christians have been asked to accept martyrdom as a possibility. For some Christians, that martyrdom has been horrifically violent. For others, it has been a quiet martyrdom, hidden away in a solitary jail cell.
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That is Jimmy Lai’s martyrdom. 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.
It’s easy to think, when reflecting on Lai’s circumstances — or any time in history when intimidation by powerful forces loomed large — that we would take the courageous stance. But would we?
We so desperately need heroes such as Lai, modeling courage from prison cells, before firing squads, inside courtrooms, to show us it can be done. That courage is within our grasp. In that sense, his valor is a gift to all of us, who know not if and when we might be called to stand up for truth at great personal cost.
Lai’s health is failing, as he languishes in year five of harsh conditions in isolation. “My dad is shrinking to nothing,” Lai’s daughter Claire recently wrote in the Washington Post. “If China fails to act, he will be a martyr.”
China made its choice on Monday. If it does not release Jimmy Lai, it will be responsible for the making of its newest martyr. Pressure from the Trump administration may be his only hope for release. But his real hope is found in something higher than earthly powers.
Maybe it sounds trite, all this talk about taking stands and heroism and martyrdom. But even in the year 2025, Christians must endure great trials on the part of their consciences. We know this reality simply does not end on this earth or in this life. We only find respite in the next. Jimmy Lai was arrested, put through a kangaroo trial, abused, and convicted. This is real life, happening right now.
But nothing can take away Lai’s legacy, not even time. As the great British champion of religious liberty Lord Alton wrote on X, “This sick theatre has nothing to do with justice. All of us who know Jimmy Lai admire his integrity and honesty. His crime is to believe in democracy and freedom. When [the] CCP dictatorship ends, Jimmy Lai’s heroic defense of freedom will long be remembered and celebrated.”
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Or, as his daughter recently said in an interview, “The government has no case. All they’ve proven is that my father is a good man, a man who loves God, a man who loves freedom, who loves truth, and loves his family.”
That is Jimmy Lai’s real verdict. And it will outlast everything.
Ashley McGuire is a senior fellow at the Catholic Association.