Hong Kong: Release Jimmy Lai and End Suppression of Freedom of Expression

February 9, 2026 Comments Off

Activist and former media owner sentenced to 20 years in national security crackdown

(Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders—February 9, 2026) CHRD calls for the release of Jimmy Lai, the 78-year-old Hong Kong-British prodemocracy activist and owner of the shuttered newspaper Apple Daily, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison today.

On December 15, 2025, Hong Kong’s High Court convicted Lai of “conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces” under the National Security Law (NSL) and “conspiracy to publish seditious materials.” Given his age and the length of the sentence, Lai is at heightened risk of dying in prison.

“Jimmy Lai has committed no crime and should be released immediately,” said Angeli Datt, CHRD’s research and advocacy coordinator. “Hong Kong authorities’ blatantly politicized prosecution of Lai flouts legal commitments to protect free expression and fair trial rights.”

Lai’s wrongful detention is compounded by a deterioration in his health and prolonged solitary detention. He suffers from diabetes, hypertension, cataracts, and heart problems, and has spent more than 1,800 days in solitary confinement. According to his daughter, Lai’s health has worsened in custody and his family has not been informed of the medical care he has received. In August 2024, his deteriorating health led to the cancellation of a visit by his lawyers. In August 2025, closing statements in his trial had to be postponed briefly after he suffered from heart palpitations and had to be fitted with a heart monitor—a condition his family says he did not have before his incarceration.

United Nations (UN) human rights experts determined in 2024 that Lai’s detention is arbitrary, and, following his conviction in December 2025, called for his immediate release on humanitarian grounds. The G7, which includes Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, condemned December’s verdict and called for his release. In 2022 and 2025, the UN called for the draconian NSL to be repealed because it is incompatible with Hong Kong’s human rights obligations, including under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Hong Kong is a party. In 2024, several countries at the UN Human Rights Council similarly urged China to repeal the NSL.

Lai has been held in solitary confinement with limited access to other individuals and sunlight for more than three years. This may constitute violations of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which has been applied to Hong Kong since 1992.

Several human rights defenders across China have died in custody after being denied adequate medical care, including China’s only Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, revered Tibetan monk Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, and human rights defender Cao Shunli. CHRD has found no evidence that any individual has been held accountable for the deaths in custody of these defenders.

Since the imposition of the NSL in June 2020, over a hundred people have been wrongfully imprisoned in Hong Kong for defending human rights. The UN has raised concern about the use of solitary confinement and other ill-treatment of detained Hong Kong defender Chow Hang-tung, reinforcing concerns about Lai’s fate in prison.

Hong Kong police first arrested Lai in February 2020. Authorities released him on bail but then revoked that status in December 2020 and charged him under the NSL and with multiple other crimes. In April and December 2021, Lai was convicted—in contravention of human rights guaranteed under the ICCPR—on several unlawful assembly charges stemming from his participation in peaceful protests that criticized the government. He was sentenced on those charges to 17 months in prison. In December 2022 he was given a 69-month sentence on trumped-up fraud charges connected to his ownership of Apple Daily. In October 2022, he completed the sentences for the protest-related charges and may finish the sentence for the fraud case in June 2026 if given a one-third reduction for good behavior. If not, that sentence will end in 2028.

“Beijing has shown its willingness to let defenders die in detention, an extreme tactic to try to silence their peaceful advocacy for human rights,” Datt said. “Members of the UN Human Rights Council will meet in February, and they should move swiftly to hold a special session and appoint a special rapporteur to investigate Beijing’s many human rights violations.”

For more information, please contact:

Sophie Richardson, Co-Executive Director, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, sophierichardson[at]nchrd.org, +1 917 721 7473

Angeli Datt, Research and Advocacy Coordinator, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, angelidatt[at]nchrd.org, +1 934 444 6155

Shane Yi, Researcher, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, shaneyi[at]nchrd.org