US EditionHong Kong's Jimmy Lai Gets 20 Years in Prison for National Security Crimes
Jimmy Lai was convicted of colluding with foreign forces and sedition under Hong Kong's national security law and has spent over 1,800 days in custody, court documents show.
- On Monday, February 9, 2026, Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison at West Kowloon Law Courts, with 18 years to be served consecutively with a separate case.
- In December, judges found Jimmy Lai guilty of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and publish seditious material, determining he aimed to destabilize the Chinese Communist Party, prosecutors said.
- After a 156-day trial, Lai spent 52 days giving evidence, facing judges hand-picked to preside over national security cases, and was denied his first choice of lawyer, according to his legal team and lawyer Robert Pang.
- The sentence could heighten diplomatic tensions as the Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the verdict and Keir Starmer, British Prime Minister, urged Lai's release while press freedom NGOs and western states criticised it.
- The closure of Apple Daily followed police raids and an asset freeze forcing its June 2021 shutdown, while Reporters Without Borders linked a 68-place press-freedom drop to this case.
189 Articles
189 Articles
Hong Kong Publisher Jimmy Lai Gets 20 Years
Associated Press photoAs expected, a three-judge panel handpicked by Beijing today (February 8) sentenced the 78-year-old Hong Kong publisher and democracy icon Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and publishing seditious material in his now-defunct Apple Daily, which was abruptly closed by authorities in the 2021 crackdown that ended any hopes for democracy in what had been one of the most ope…
Jimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years by Hong Kong court in landmark national security case
A Hong Kong court sentenced former media mogul Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison, handing the pro-democracy advocate the heaviest penalty ever meted out under a Beijing-imposed national security law.
The European Union today called for the "urgent and unconditional" release of a Hong Kong activist and critic of China's official policies.
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