The Hong Kong High Court will sentence pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai on Feb. 9, in a landmark national security case that has triggered condemnation from Western governments, including the United States.
Lai is set to stand before three judges, handpicked by Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader to oversee national security cases, at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building, according to the judiciary’s official website.
A vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Lai was convicted in December 2025 of two counts of “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” under the Beijing-imposed national security law and a third count of “sedition” under a colonial-era law. Lai had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Lai, who suffers from diabetes and heart palpitations, has already been kept behind bars for five years and two months in Hong Kong. He is one of the most prominent pro-democracy advocates to face sentencing under the security law, which the CCP imposed on Hong Kong in June 2020 following months of anti-government protests.
Under the draconian law, Lai could face a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Ahead of the Feb. 9 court ruling, international rights supporters have renewed calls for Lai’s release.
“Jimmy Lai’s trial has been nothing but a charade from the start and shows total contempt for Hong Kong laws that are supposed to protect press freedom,” Beh Lih Yi, the Asia-Pacific director at the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement on Feb. 6.
“Monday’s sentencing will go down in history as Hong Kong’s most shameful act of persecution of journalists and leave an indelible black mark on a city that was once the bastion of press freedom in Asia.”
Lai’s tabloid newspaper, Apple Daily, known for its critical coverage of the CCP and the pro-Beijing local government, was forced to shut down shortly after some 500 Hong Kong police officers raided its newsroom, froze its assets, and arrested several senior executives and editors on suspicion of violations of the national security law in June 2021.
Six former senior directors of Apple Daily, who have been detained for more than four years, are also scheduled to receive sentences on Monday, according to the court diary.
On the night of Feb. 8, dozens of Hongkongers had started lining up outside the court building to secure a seat in the courtroom, local media reported.
The sentencing of Lai, a British national, is scheduled less than two weeks after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited China. Starmer confirmed to British parliamentarians on Feb. 2 that he raised the issue of Lai’s case with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and explicitly called for his release.
U.S. President Donald Trump also said in December 2025 that he had discussed Lai’s case with Xi.
“I asked to consider his release,” Trump said at a briefing shortly after Lai’s conviction. “He’s not well. He’s an older man, and he’s not well. So I did put that request out. We'll see what happens.”
Foreign ministers from the United States and other G7 nations have condemned the prosecution of Lai under the national security law in December 2025. Lawmakers in Brussels recently adopted a resolution calling for an urgent review of Hong Kong’s special trading status and sanctions against Hong Kong officials responsible for eroding the city’s freedoms.
Rights groups and Lai’s family have voiced concerns about the 78-year-old’s deteriorating health from prolonged solitary confinement. According to his son, Sebastien Lai, the former businessman lost about 22 pounds in less than a year.
