Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai receives 20-year prison sentence
A Hong Kong court has sentenced Jimmy Lai, a prominent pro-democracy media mogul, to 20 years in prison for national security crimes. Lai, founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, was found guilty of urging foreign countries to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and for publishing “seditious” articles. Rights groups and his family have condemned the sentence, calling it devastating and a blow to press freedom. The sentence is the harshest yet under Hong Kong’s national security law.
What we know
- Jimmy Lai was given a 20-year prison sentence for national security crimes, with two of those years overlapping his existing term, resulting in an additional 18 years.
- The 78-year-old’s punishment surpasses previous sentences under the national security law, including the 10 years given to legal scholar Benny Tai in 2024.
- Rights groups described the sentence as “effectively a death sentence” and a symbol of shrinking press freedoms in Hong Kong.
- Lai has been behind bars since 2020 and was prosecuted under the national security law imposed by China on Hong Kong in 2020.
- Eight other defendants, including six Apple Daily executives, received sentences of up to 10 years, all pleading guilty.
