Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai receives a 20-year jail sentence

For the 78-year-old publisher, 20 years of imprisonment is effectively a death sentence.

Originally published on Global Voices

Photo from Hong Kong Free Press. Used with permission.

The Hong Kong High Court sentenced pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, the founder of now-defunct Apple Daily, to 20 years on February 9, 2026, following his conviction on foreign collusion and sedition charges last December. Lai's case marks the harshest punishment among all prosecutions under the 2020 National Security Law...