Catholic civil rights advocate and former Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, known for his fierce criticism of the Chinese Communist regime, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Monday, February 9. The sentence was the longest one handed out so far under a Beijing security law imposed in 2020 after protests in the city.
Lai was convicted in December 2025, after a trial that has dragged on for years, on two counts of “conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security” and one count of “conspiracy to print, publish, sell, offer for sale, distribute, display and/or reproduce seditious publications” in connection with his publication Apple Daily.
His eight co-defenders—former Apple Daily employees and two activists—were given prison sentences of between 6 and 10 years.
In a statement, Lai’s daughter called the prison term “heartbreakingly cruel,” saying, “If this sentence is carried out, he will die behind bars.”
Hong Kong leader John Lee said the sentence was “bringing great satisfaction to the people.”
Lai’s case has drawn widespread international criticism as politically motivated and an attack on press freedom.
International media watchdogs, human rights organizations, and governments have described the verdict and sentence as marking the “final nail in the coffin” or the “curtain falling” on press freedom. Human Rights Watch called the sentence “cruel and unjust,” and Amnesty International said it was a “cold-blooded attack on freedom of expression” and another “grim milestone in Hong Kong’s transformation from a city governed by the rule of law to one ruled by fear.”
After the December conviction, U.S. President Donald Trump said, “I spoke to President Xi about it, and I asked [Xi] to consider his release. He’s not well. He’s an older man, and he’s not well.” UK PM Keir Starmer and the British government have previously called for the release of Lai, who is a British citizen.
The American Cato Institute said the court’s ruling “signals a persistent decline in freedom” in Hong Kong:
Over the years, the territory has seen a marked deterioration in its rule of law and a crackdown on freedom of expression and of assembly and association. According to the Human Freedom Index, for example, Hong Kong now ranks 143 out of 165 countries and jurisdictions worldwide in terms of freedom of association and assembly.
