U.S. urges China to reverse secretary of state’s decision Marco Rubio Sentence called ‘unjust and tragic’ Hongkong A Beijing-backed court sentenced publisher and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, 78, to 20 years in prison under a national security law.

“This belief demonstrates to the world that Beijing will stop at nothing to suppress those who advocate for Hong Kong’s fundamental freedoms,” Rubio said in a statement. A statement. “The United States urges authorities to grant Mr. Lai humanitarian parole.”

Chinese Communist Party uses Hong Kong courts Lai sentence on Mondayconsolidate one It is the most significant national security case since Beijing imposed sweeping new laws after months of anti-China protests.

Billionaire media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai founded now-defunct Apple Daily 1995 Once the most outspoken pro-democracy publication in Hong Kong. He is one of the highest-profile figures to be arrested under the 2020 national security law Beijing imposed after the unrest.

The protests were sparked by concerns that Beijing was eroding Hong Kong’s promised autonomy and were followed by a sweeping security crackdown that criminalized dissent and reshaped the city’s legal system.

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On September 17, 2014, Jimmy Lai, the boss of Hong Kong media company Next Media Co., Ltd., left the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) headquarters. (Xiao Tailong/Reuters)

The verdict also puts new pressure on President Donald Trump, who has previously spoken publicly about Lai’s detention and is expected to travel to Beijing in April for broader talks with China. Human rights advocates and some lawmakers urge Trump to raise Jimmy Lai’s case directly with Chinese leaders Xi Jinpingwarned Beijing that silence would be seen as tacit approval.

Trump said in December 2025 that he personally urged Xi Jinping to release Lai Zhi.

“I spoke with President Xi about it and asked that he be considered for release,” Trump said. “He’s not in good health, he’s older and he’s not in good health, so I did make that request. We’ll see what happens.”

Hong Kong authorities found Jimmy Lai guilty of two counts of conspiring with foreign forces, a national security crime under laws imposed by Beijing. Prosecutors argued that Jimmy Lai and his co-defendants used their media platforms and international networks to lobby foreign governments to impose sanctions, blockades or other hostile actions against China and Hong Kong that the court said threatened national security.

The judge called Lai the “mastermind” of the alleged conspiracy.

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Lai was also found guilty of conspiracy to publish inflammatory material under a separate provision of Hong Kong’s colonial-era Crimes Ordinance, which applies in conjunction with the national security regime. Prosecutors cited hundreds of Apple Daily articles they said were intended to “incite public hatred or contempt for authorities.”

Jimmy Lai and his defense team reject this notion of criminalizing speech.

On January 1, 2020, demonstrators marched on the streets of Hong Kong. Anti-communist demonstrations led to massive repression. (Willie Siau/SOPA Photo via Getty)

Sebastian Lai, the publisher’s son, said the sentence effectively amounted to a life sentence given his father’s age and failing health.

“Twenty years old, he’s 78 now. It’s essentially a life sentence, or more like a death sentence given the conditions in which he’s being held,” Sebastian Lai said Monday on FOX Business. He said his father had lost significant weight while in detention and now suffered from heart disease and diabetes, adding, “We are very worried about his life.”

Sebastian Lai said his father, a Catholic, remained “a man of deep faith” despite his years in detention and believed “no matter how difficult his conditions were, he still did the right thing”.

He also recalled that his father refused multiple opportunities to leave Hong Kong before his arrest, choosing instead to stay rather than abandon his principles or colleagues.

Sebastian Rai and Senator Marco Rubio pose with a poster of Rai’s father. (Fox News)

Xiao Li said his father’s case should serve as a warning TaiwanIt is argued that Beijing’s commitment to autonomy under Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” model reveals how tightly mainland China ultimately controls Hong Kong.

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Lai has been serving a separate prison sentence for more than five years for fraud and organizing unauthorized gatherings during protests.

His defense lawyers argued that the case criminalized political speech and journalistic conduct rather than a genuine national security threat, saying that Jimmy Lai’s call for international pressure on Beijing amounted to legal propaganda and that meetings with U.S. officials and media appearances were routine for a prominent publisher and democracy advocate rather than evidence of a conspiracy.