A court in Hong Kong has sentenced democracy advocate and media tycoonย Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison.ย
The sentencing on Monday follows Lai’s conviction on charges of foreign collusion and seditious publication in Decemberย 2025.
“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 Chinaย imposed in 2020 in the wake of street protests in Hong Kong.
The 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper was one of the first prominent figures to be arrested under the law.
International criticism of Lai’s conviction
Global leaders including US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmerย as well as rights groupsย have condemned Lai’s conviction.
Starmer raised the case of Lai, โwho holds British citizenship, in detail during a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in January.
“I raised the case of โJimmy Lai and called for his release,” Starmer told the UK parliament after his trip.
Press freedom in Hong Kong 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 Journalisms CEO Jodie Ginsberg said “rule โ of law has been completely shattered in Hong Kong.”
“Todayโs egregious decision is the final nail in the coffin for freedom of the press in Hong Kong,” she said, calling on theย international community must 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 press freedom rankings to 140th place. At the time the media freedom organization said itย had never seen suchย “a sharp and rapid deterioration in the press freedom record of any country or territory.”
Edited by: Karl Sexton