Hong Kong: Media tycoon Jimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years

A court in Hong Kong on Monday sentenced 78-year-old democracy advocate and media tycoon Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison.

The sentencing – described as ‘effectively a death sentence’ by rights advocates – follows Lai’s conviction on charges of foreign collusion and seditious publication in December 2025.

What happened in the courtroom?

“After considering the serious and grave criminal conduct of Lai … the Court was satisfied that the total sentence for Lai in the present case should be 20 years’ imprisonment,” a summary document from the judges said.

Two of those years will overlap with Lai’s existing prison term, meaning that he will serve an additional 18 years, the judges wrote. He has been in prison since 2020.

Lai smiled and waved at his supporters when he arrived for the sentencing, AP news agency reported.

But before he left the courtroom, he looked serious, AP said, as some people in the public gallery cried.

When asked about whether they would appeal, his lawyer Robert Pang said, ‘no comment’.

Lai, a fierce critic of the Chinese government, was sentenced under a National Security Law that China imposed in 2020 in the wake of street protests in Hong Kong.

The founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper was one of the first prominent figures to be arrested under the law.

The international reaction

The European Union criticised the sentence and called for ‌Lai’s ⁠immediate release.

“The politically motivated prosecution of Jimmy ‍Lai and the former Apple ​Daily ​executives and journalists harms Hong Kong’s reputation,” the EU’s foreign policy department said in a statement.

“The EU calls ‍on the Hong Kong authorities to restore confidence in ​press freedom in Hong Kong, one of ⁠the ​pillars of its historic success as ‌an ‌international financial centre, and to stop prosecuting journalists.”

Lai holds British citizenship, but Hong Kong and Beijing do not recognise dual nationality, and Chinese authorities treat him as a Chinese national under their system. UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said that, given Lai’s age and poor physical condition, the term was ‘tantamount to a life sentence’.

“I remain deeply concerned for Mr Lai’s health, and I again call on the Hong Kong authorities to end his appalling ordeal and release him on humanitarian grounds, so that he may be reunited with his family,” said Cooper.

Global leaders, including US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as well as rights groups, had already condemned Lai’s conviction.

Starmer raised the case of Lai in detail during a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in January.

Press freedom at historic low

Many see Lai’s conviction as a symbol of the city’s shrinking press freedoms.

“The harsh 20-year sentence against 78-year-old Jimmy Lai is effectively a death sentence. A sentence of this magnitude is both cruel and profoundly unjust,” Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

Amnesty International called the case ‘another grim milestone in Hong Kong’s transformation from a city governed by the rule of law to one ruled by fear’.

The Committee to Protect Journalists CEO Jodie Ginsberg said ‘rule ⁠of law has been completely shattered in Hong Kong’.

“Today’s egregious decision is the final nail in the coffin for freedom of the press in Hong Kong,” she said, calling on the international community to step up its pressure to free Jimmy Lai.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the media mogul’s sentencing ‘will resonate far beyond Jimmy Lai himself, sending a decisive signal about the future of press freedom in the territory’.

Hong Kong fell in RSF’s 2025 World Press Freedom Index to 140th place. At the time the media freedom organisation said it had never seen such ‘a sharp and rapid deterioration in the press freedom record of any country or territory’.

DW