Jimmy Lai and Gao Zhisheng — Wise Protagonists in a New Investiture of the Gods

Jimmy Lai, founder of Apple Daily and one of Hong Kong’s leading pro-democracy activists. (Song Bilong / Dajiyuan)

[People News] On Feb. 9, 2026, Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court handed down the heaviest sentence yet since Beijing imposed the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law: 78-year-old Jimmy Lai, founder of Next Digital, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Since Hong Kong was handed over to Communist China in 1997, its political, economic, cultural, and legal environments have steadily deteriorated. Today, the “Pearl of the Orient” has seen its democratic freedoms dim, and its political and business climate has soured. One political observer remarked that even after Donald Trump and Keir Starmer personally expressed concern about Jimmy Lai to Xi Jinping, Lai may well spend the rest of his life in prison — a sign that Hong Kong has lost universal values such as freedom, rule of law, and free speech.

According to reports from court-focused media outlets, Lai’s supporters wept upon hearing the verdict. Shock and condemnation continue to ripple through society.

The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, and the British government have all expressed deep concern. On Feb. 9, the UK government announced an expansion of the British National (Overseas) visa pathway for Hong Kong residents. Britain’s Foreign Office called the ruling “politically motivated.” Home Secretary Yvette Cooper posted on X urging Hong Kong authorities to end this “appalling persecution” and release the elderly British citizen on humanitarian grounds.

Several Western diplomats told Reuters that once the verdict was delivered, negotiations to secure Lai’s release might formally begin — depending on whether he files an appeal. When Lai’s wife, Lee Yin-kim, left the courthouse, reporters asked for her views on the sentence and whether he would appeal, but she did not respond.

Yet in darkened Hong Kong, Jimmy Lai and others shine like bright stars. At a previous mitigation hearing, Lai refused to plead for leniency. He appeared calm when the 20-year sentence was announced. Perhaps the elderly man has resolved to devote the rest of his life to the cause of freedom, using his remaining years as a light for those who yearn for liberty. From the 2014 Umbrella Movement to the 2019 anti-extradition protests, he stood on the front lines. After the National Security Law took effect, he refused to leave Hong Kong, once saying, “Hong Kong is dead, but I will fight to the end.”

He is destined to be recorded in Hong Kong’s history of change, becoming a name never forgotten and living forever in people’s hearts.

This brings to mind another figure persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party for freedom, human rights, rule of law, and defending the people — except his struggle took place in mainland China. Once named by China’s Ministry of Justice as one of the country’s “Top Ten Lawyers,” this human rights attorney is Gao Zhisheng.

Gao Zhisheng became known for representing vulnerable groups. He spoke for farmers who lost their land to forced demolitions, defended workers whose rights were violated, and provided legal services to religious believers and Falun Gong practitioners. He also wrote multiple open letters to Chinese leaders urging them to address religious persecution and judicial injustice. Many among society’s disadvantaged expressed deep gratitude to him. Some overseas commentators, drawing on a prophecy in The Tui Bei Tu about a “Heavenly Son from Guanzhong,” even speculated he might become a future leader.

(First published by People News) △