Explainer: How national security judges sentenced Jimmy Lai, from health records to foreign collusion

2026-02-15 - 00:08

The sentencing hearing for Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai on Monday lasted less than 10 minutes. Journalists and police officers outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on February 9, 2026, ahead of the sentencing of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Judge Esther Toh read out only the total sentences for each of the eight defendants in the high-profile national security trial, as Lai, six former senior staffers of his now-closed Apple Daily newspaper, and two activists sat impassively in the dock. Lai received a 20-year jail term, while the eight co-defendants were given sentences ranging from six years and three months to a decade. The Apple Daily founder’s prison term is the harshest sentence so far under the Beijing-imposed national security law, surpassing the previous record of 10 years handed down to legal scholar Benny Tai. Two of Lai’s children and rights groups have condemned the sentence as a de facto “death sentence” for the 78-year-old. In December, the three judges presiding over the case – Toh, Alex Lee, and Susana Maria D’Almada Remedios – delivered an 855-page judgment detailing why Lai was found guilty of foreign collusion and sedition. In contrast, it took them only 47 pages to explain their reasoning for adopting the sentences for Lai and his co-defendants. From left: Judges Alex Lee, Esther Toh, and Susana Maria D’Almada Remedios. Photos: Judiciary. A closer look at the national security judges’ reasoning reveals previously undisclosed medical records of Lai, whose health conditions are a point of contention between Hong Kong authorities and those calling for his release. It also sheds light on why the court considers foreign collusion to be the most serious crime under the national security law. Lai’s health conditions In the months leading up to Monday’s sentencing, Lai’s supporters – including his two children Sebastien and Claire, who are leading an international campaign calling for their father’s release – warned of his deteriorating health in prison. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong government vehemently rejected the claim, saying Lai had received proper medical attention while in custody. According to the “reasons for sentence” document, Lai suffered from multiple health problems during his time in detention, including retinal vein occlusion in his right eye, elevated blood pressure, weight loss, and heart palpitations. He also experienced “progressive hearing loss” and conditions relating to his fingernails, according to the judges. Jimmy Lai in 2020. File photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP. Citing Lai’s medical report dated January 9, the judges highlighted the treatment he had received while in custody, either from prison doctors or visiting specialists. This included medication for his diabetes and for “recent” fluctuations in blood pressure in December and January, as well as treatment for a toothache in February 2021. Lai also received treatment following the diagnosis of his right-eye condition in 2023 and “bilateral thumb nail dystrophy” caused by a nail infection in 2025. The medical report described daily monitoring of Lai’s health and timely treatment of his conditions in prison. It added that “no psychological abnormality” was reported during Lai’s solitary confinement. Regarding Lai’s weight – a key point of contention during mitigation hearings last month – Lai weighed 80 kilograms when he was first remanded in custody in December 2020 and 79.2 kilograms in January this year. His body mass index (BMI) was 26.4 and 26.2, respectively. The judges cited the medical report as saying that both readings indicated Lai was in the obesity range for an Asian adult. Jimmy Lai’s wife Teresa Lai (centre, wearing sunglasses) and Cardinal Joseph Zen leave the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on February 9, 2026, after the sentencing of the pro-democracy media tycoon. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. While Lai’s lawyers told the court during mitigation that he had experienced significant weight loss in recent months, the judges said that was not necessarily a matter of concern. “The point is whether the weight loss, if any ... indicates any inadequacy of the medical attention and care that Lai has been receiving in prison,” the judges wrote. Based on the medical report, the answer to the question was no, they said. None of Lai’s conditions is life-threatening, they added, citing Lai’s lawyer. ‘Grave nature’ In the ruling, the judges found that the offence of foreign collusion committed by Lai and his co-defendants was of a “grave nature.” The characterisation is drawn from the Beijing-imposed national security law, which stipulates that a foreign collusion offence of a grave nature is punishable by a prison term of between 10 years and life imprisonment. For an offence not of a grave nature, the sentencing range should be between three and 10 years. The judges noted that for the other three offences criminalised under the national security law – namely secession, subversion, and terrorism – the minimum sentence could be “short-term detention” or “restriction.” Police officers outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on February 9, 2026, after the sentencing of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. The foreign collusion offence also has no provision differentiating the role and degree of involvement of an offender, unlike the secession and subversion offences, which state that a “principal offender” will receive a heavier punishment. “We come to the view that it is the legislative intent that, other things being equal, the engagement of a foreign entity in endangering national security is generally to be regarded as an offence of a more serious nature which has to be met with a more severe penalty,” the judges wrote. They decided that the present offence was of a grave nature for a number of reasons, including that foreign countries did impose “sanctions or blockade, or engage in other hostile activities” against Hong Kong and China. The starting sentence for the foreign collusion offence was set at 15 years in prison for all defendants. Calling Lai the “mastermind and the driving force” behind the conspiracies, the judges raised the starting sentence to 18 years in prison for each of the two foreign collusion offences he was convicted of. He also faced one count of conspiracy to publish seditious publications, for which the judges set a starting sentence of 23 months in prison. Police outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on February 9, 2026, ahead of the sentencing of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Judges can decide whether and how the jail terms overlap based on what is known as the “totality principle,” under which they fix a total sentence. “Having stepped back and [taken] a global view of the total sentence for Lai’s serious and grave criminal conduct,” the judges said, giving the media mogul 20 years behind bars. They also ordered two years of the national security sentence to be served concurrently with a separate five-year-and-nine-month fraud sentence Lai is currently serving. The fraud sentence will be completed in June this year, assuming that Lai is granted a one-third remission for good conduct in jail. In effect, 18 years are added to Lai’s sentence. If he serves the terms in full, he will be 96 when released from prison. Appeal unclear Unlike Lai, the other eight defendants pleaded guilty to the foreign collusion offence. Five testified for the prosecution against Lai, including ex-Apple Daily publisher Cheung Kim-hung and ex-associate publisher Chan Pui-man. The five co-defendants were given considerable discounts and were sentenced to jail terms of up to seven years and three months – less than half of the 15-year starting sentence. The remaining three co-defendants – former editor-in-chief Ryan Law, former executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung, and former managing editor of Apple Daily’s English edition Fung Wai-kong – did not testify against their former boss and did not receive further discounts other than a one-third sentence remission for their guilty pleas. Media tycoon Jimmy Lai and co-defendants were sentenced on February 9, 2026. Graphic: Hans Tse/HKFP. They were sentenced to 10 years behind bars, the statutory minimum under the national security law. All of the nine defendants barely moved or showed any visible reaction when their sentences were being read out. But when Judge Toh announced the 10-year jail term, Lai was seen turning around and looking towards Law, who sat behind him to his right. Scores of ex-Apple Daily employees and family members of the defendants burst into tears as the hearing came to a close. Some of them gathered in a circle outside the courtroom afterwards, weeping. Lai’s lawyer Robert Pang declined to comment on whether Lai would appeal, saying only that the tycoon would have 28 days from Monday to do so, according to media reports.