Hong Kong’s most eminent media mogul Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20-years in jail on Monday in a high-profile national security trial.
The landmark verdict brought Hong Kong’s long-running legal saga to end that has spanned nearly 5 years.
Under the Hong Kong Security Law (NSL), crimes are categorized by their severity into three tiers or “band”. The latest Lai’s sentence of 20 years falls within the grave nature of offence. Being the highest tier, the grave nature offences carry a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life imprisonment.
According to three national security judges, Lai’s sentence was aggravated by his “mastermind” collusion with the foreign conspirators.
The judges also cited the prosecution evidence that Lai did not act alone. In fact, a network of individuals including Apple Daily Staff, activists, and foreigners was also involved in conspiracies.
As a result of connivance, besides media tycoon, the court handed over 6-10 years of sentence to six former senior Apple Daily staffers, an activist and a paralegal.
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.
List of charges Jimmy Lai is convicted of
After a long running trial that began in late 2023, Lai was found guilty on three primary charges:
National security charges
Two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces
One count of conspiracy to publish seditious materials
The judges also called Lai “mastermind” behind the efforts to lobby foreign governments, such as the UK and US, to slam sanctions on Hong Kong and China after 2019 protests.
‘Unjust rule of law’
According to Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalism, “The 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.”
Given the health of Jimmy Lai, it is possible that he would spend the rest of his life in prison.
“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,” said Elaine Pearson, the Asia director of Human Rights Watch.
Who is Jimmy Lai?
Jimmy Lai is a self-made billionaire and a central figure in Hong Kong’s pro democracy movement. After fleeing mainland China as a 12-year-old refugee, he worked in garment factories before establishing the successful fashion brand Giordano.
Driven by the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, he founded Apple Daily in 1995, later becoming a fierce critic of the Chinese Communist Party.
Lai became the central figure in the 2019 protests in Hong Kong because of his pervasive pro-democratic beliefs.
His newspaper not only supported protestors but also censured the government’s tightening grip on freedoms and hollow reforms. Lai was first arrested in August 2020 and was convicted in 2025.
