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A House of Commons committee has unanimously passed a motion to condemn the 20-year prison sentence given to democracy activist Jimmy Lai on Feb. 9, and to call for his immediate release, saying Canada must hold the Chinese regime accountable for its repression.
Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar
posted the motion on social media on Feb. 9 and said Lai is “a prisoner of conscience.”
“His only ‘crime’ was standing up for freedom, democracy, and a free press in Hong Kong,” Majumdar said. “Canada must continue to speak with moral clarity and hold the CCP to account for its repression and brutality.”
Lai, 78, founded the now shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and is an outspoken critic of China’s communist regime. He was
convicted in December 2025 on two counts of “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” under the Beijing-imposed national security law, and one count of “sedition” under a colonial-era sedition law, after pleading not guilty to all three charges.
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Lai was arrested in August 2020 and imprisoned for more than 1,800 days, before being
sentenced to 20 years in prison on Feb. 9. The three national security judges in Lai’s case said the sentence was increased because he was the “mastermind” behind what they described as “persistent” foreign collusion conspiracies. His son and lawyer have said his health has seriously declined during the time he has been imprisoned.
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Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Canada is “disappointed” with Lai’s sentencing and called for his immediate humanitarian release in a Feb. 9
statement. “Canada will continue to support free and independent media worldwide,” she said.
Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe has said his party condemns Lai’s sentencing.
“We strongly denounce this imprisonment sentence remotely controlled by Beijing against a man whose only crime is to have fought for freedom and democracy,” Brunelle-Duceppe said in a Feb. 9
post on X.
NDP MP Jenny Kwan said in a statement that Lai’s sentence represents “another devastating escalation in the systematic dismantling of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong,” adding that Lai is “not a criminal—he is a prisoner of conscience whose only ‘offence’ has been standing up for democracy, freedom of press, and the rule of law.”
She said if the sentence is not overturned, it effectively condemns Lai to spend the rest of his life in prison. She said this is a “stark reminder of how far Hong Kong has fallen from its commitments to human rights and justice.”
“Jimmy Lai’s conviction sends a chilling message to journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society in Hong Kong: that peaceful expression and criticism of those in power will be met with severe punishment,” she said in the Feb. 9
statement, adding that Canada has “a moral and legal responsibility” to continue to call for Lai’s immediate and unconditional release.
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Democracy activists groups around the world have spoken out about Lai’s sentencing. The Toronto Association for Democracy in China (TADC) released a
statement calling on Canada to be the first among G7 countries to make an urgent appeal to Beijing for Lai’s release.
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Udumbara
