A Hong Kong court sentenced 78-year-old media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison Monday under Beijing's national security law, drawing immediate condemnation from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who called the verdict "unjust and tragic" and urged Chinese authorities to grant Lai humanitarian parole.
Lai — the founder of Apple Daily, once Hong Kong's most prominent pro-democracy newspaper — was convicted on two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiracy to publish seditious materials. Judges labeled him the "mastermind" of alleged plots to use his media platform and international network to lobby foreign governments for sanctions against China and Hong Kong.
His crime, in plain terms: running a newspaper that criticized Beijing.
Rubio's statement, reported by Fox News, left no ambiguity about how Washington views the conviction:
"The conviction shows the world that Beijing will go to extraordinary lengths to silence those who advocate fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong."
Prosecutors cited hundreds of Apple Daily articles as evidence against Lai. Let that register — a government cataloging journalism as proof of criminal conspiracy. The newspaper Lai founded in 1995 became, under Beijing's 2020 national security law, Exhibit A in a case designed not merely to punish one man but to demonstrate what happens to anyone who dissents.
Lai had already spent more than five years behind bars, serving a separate sentence for fraud and for organizing unauthorized assemblies during Hong Kong's anti-CCP protests. The 20-year addition isn't a sentence. For a 78-year-old man, it's a burial order with extra paperwork.
His son Sebastian Lai put it bluntly:
"Twenty years, he's 78 years old now. This is essentially a life sentence — or more like a death sentence, given the conditions he's being kept in."
Sebastian told Fox on Monday that his father has lost significant weight and suffers from heart issues and diabetes. He said the family is "incredibly worried about his life."
What makes Lai's case remarkable — and what separates it from the stories of countless other political prisoners around the world — is that he had every opportunity to leave. Lai is a billionaire. He had the means, the connections, and the warning signs. Beijing's national security law swept through Hong Kong in 2020 after months of massive pro-democracy protests, reshaping the city's legal landscape. Lai knew what was coming.
He stayed anyway.
Sebastian Lai described his father as "a man of deep faith" who believes "no matter how hard the conditions he was under, that he still did the right thing." That's not political theater. That's conviction of the kind that embarrasses regimes built on coercion, which is precisely why Beijing wants him locked away until he dies.
President Trump raised Lai's case directly with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in December 2025. His comments at the time were characteristically direct:
"I spoke to President Xi about it, and I asked to consider his release. 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."
Trump is expected to travel to Beijing in April amid broader negotiations with China. Lai's imprisonment now sits squarely within the wider framework of U.S.-China relations — trade, Taiwan, military posture, and the question of whether Beijing faces any real cost for crushing internal dissent.
Rubio's public call for humanitarian parole adds diplomatic weight. It signals that Lai's case isn't a side issue to be quietly shelved during trade talks — it's on the table.
The national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 was sold as a stabilizing measure. In practice, it has become the instrument through which a once-vibrant city was brought to heel. The prosecution of Jimmy Lai — a publisher, not a general — tells you everything about the kind of "stability" Beijing values. It's the stability of silence.
Prosecutors argued Lai and unnamed co-defendants used his media platform to lobby for sanctions and "other hostile actions" by foreign governments. The colonial-era Crimes Ordinance was dusted off and applied alongside the national security regime to convict him of publishing seditious materials. A law written by the British Empire, repurposed by the Chinese Communist Party, to jail a man for printing newspapers.
Sebastian Lai argued that Beijing's broken "one country, two systems" promise should serve as a warning for Taiwan. He has a point. Whatever guarantees Beijing extends to its neighbors, Hong Kong is the proof of concept — and the proof is a 78-year-old man sentenced to die in prison for the crime of publishing.
Jimmy Lai built Apple Daily into a media force that gave Hong Kong's people a voice Beijing could not tolerate. He could have taken his fortune and left. He chose the newspaper, the city, and the principle over his own freedom.
Twenty years. Hundreds of articles entered as evidence. A courtroom that called journalism a conspiracy.
Beijing delivered its verdict on Jimmy Lai. In doing so, it delivered a verdict on itself.
