Hong Kong — Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy former Hong Kong media tycoon and a fierce critic of Beijing, was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison in the longest punishment given so far under a China-imposed national security law that has virtually silenced the city’s dissent.
Lai, 78, was convicted in December of conspiring with others to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security, and conspiracy to publish seditious articles. The maximum penalty for his conviction was life imprisonment.
His co-defendants, six former employees of his Apple Daily newspaper and two activists, received prison terms of between 6 years and 3 months, and 10 years on collusion-related charges.
Lai smiled and waved at his supporters when he arrived for the sentence. But before he left the courtroom, he looked serious, as some people in the public gallery cried. When asked about whether they would appeal, his lawyer Robert Pang said no comment.
The democracy advocate’s arrest and trial have raised concerns about the decline of press freedom in what was once an Asian bastion of media independence. The government insists the case has nothing to do with a free press, saying the defendants used news reporting as a pretext for years to commit acts that harmed China and Hong Kong.
Lai was one of the first prominent figures to be arrested under the security law in 2020. Within a year, some of Apple Daily’s senior journalists also were arrested and the newspaper shut down in June 2021.
Family warns Lai “will die a martyr behind bars”
In a statement, Lai’s son, Sebastien, said the “draconian” prison term was devastating for his family and life-threatening for his father. “It signifies the total destruction of the Hong Kong legal system and the end of justice,” he said.
HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP/Getty
His sister Claire called the sentence “heartbreakingly cruel” in the same statement. “If this sentence is carried out, he will die a martyr behind bars,” she said.
Lai has been in custody for more than five years already.
In January, his lawyer Pang said Lai suffered health issues including heart palpitations, high blood pressure and diabetes.
The prosecution said a medical report noted Lai’s general health condition remained stable. The government claimed Lai had requested to be held in solitary confinement.
Lai’s sentence condemned around the world
Lai’s sentencing could heighten Beijing’s diplomatic tension with foreign governments, which have criticized Lai’s conviction and sentencing.
President Trump, who is expected to visit China in April, said in December that he felt “so badly” after the verdict was handed down, and he noted that he had spoken with Chinese leader Xi Jinping about Lai and asked him “to consider his release.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government also has called for the release of Lai, who is a British citizen. U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called the prosecution “politically motivated,” saying the prison term is tantamount to a life sentence.
Human Rights Watch’s Asia Director Elaine Pearson said the harsh 20-year-sentence is effectively a death sentence, calling it cruel and unjust.
Chinese leaders say Lai’s sentence “deeply gratifying”
Hong Kong leader John Lee said Lai’s sentence demonstrated the rule of law, calling the crimes he was convicted of “heinous and evil in the extreme.”
The newspaper mogul’s “heavy sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment demonstrates the rule of law, upholds justice and is deeply gratifying,” Lee said in a statement.
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Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry in Beijing, said Lai was “a key planner and participant in a series of anti-China and disruptive activities in Hong Kong,” and lauded the sentencing as “reasonable, legitimate, and legal,” adding: “There is no room for argument.”
Lin urged “relevant countries” to respect the rule of law in Hong Kong.
Lai prosecuted under China’s broad new security law
Lai founded Apple Daily, a now-defunct newspaper known for its critical reports against the governments in Hong Kong and Beijing. He was arrested in August 2020 under the security law that was used in a yearslong crackdown on many of Hong Kong’s leading activists.
In their ruling, three government-vetted judges wrote that the starting point of Lai’s sentence was increased because they found him to be the mastermind of the conspiracies. But they also reduced his penalty because they accepted that Lai’s age, health condition and solitary confinement would cause his prison life to be more burdensome than that of other inmates.
“Lai was no doubt the mastermind of all three conspiracies charged and therefore he warrants a heavier sentence,” they said. “As regards the others, it is difficult to distinguish their relative culpability.”
They took into account that Lai is serving a prison term of five years and nine months in a separate fraud case and ruled that 18 years of Lai’s sentence in the security case should be served consecutively to that prison term.
A chilling effect on China’s journalists and academics
Urania Chiu, lecturer in law at Oxford Brookes University, said the case is significant for its broad construction of seditious intent and application of the term “collusion with foreign forces” to certain activities by the media. The implication is particularly alarming for journalists and those working in academia, she said.
“Offering and publishing legitimate critiques of the state, which often involves engagement with international platforms and audiences, may now easily be construed as ‘collusion,'” Chiu said.
The former Apple Daily staffers and activists involved in Lai’s case entered guilty pleas, which helped reduce their sentences Monday. They earlier admitted to the prosecution charge that said they conspired with Lai to request foreign forces to impose sanctions or blockades, or engage in other hostile activities against Hong Kong or China.
The convicted journalists are publisher Cheung Kim-hung, associate publisher Chan Pui-man, editor-in-chief Ryan Law, executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung, executive editor-in-chief responsible for English news Fung Wai-kong and editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee. They received prison terms ranging between six years and nine months, to 10 years.
The two activists, Andy Li and Chan Tsz-wah, were sentenced to six years and three months, and seven years and three months respectively.
The penalties for Cheung, Chan and Yeung, alongside the two activists, were reduced in part because they served as prosecution witnesses and the judges said their evidence had “significantly” contributed to the conviction of Lai.
Before sunrise, dozens of people stood in line outside the court building to secure a seat in the courtroom. One of them was former Apple Daily employee Tammy Cheung.
“Whatever happens, it’s an end — at least we’ll know the outcome,” Cheung said before the sentence was delivered.
Lai founded Apple Daily in 1995, two years before the former British colony returned to Chinese rule. Its closure in 2021 shocked the local press scene. Hong Kong ranked 140th out of 180 territories in the press-freedom index compiled by media freedom organization Reporters Without Borders in 2025, far from its 18th place in 2002.