Hong Kong: Jimmy Lai jail sentence a 'travesty of justice' and attack on freedom of expression

Kerry Moscogiuri, Amnesty International UK’s Interim Chief Executive, said:

“Jimmy Lai’s sentence is a travesty of justice. He has already spent more than five years in prison for simply exercising his human rights. His case has been an attack on press freedom and freedom of expression from the very start.

“Twenty years effectively means life given his age and state of health.

“This vindictive sentence, and the sentencing of six other former Apple Daily executives, is one more nail in the coffin of Hong Kong freedoms and must not be tolerated.

“It is vital the UK government continues to demand Jimmy Lai’s immediate and unconditional release and defend Hong Kong people’s right to speak out freely.”

Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director, said:

“This sentencing marks another grim milestone in Hong Kong’s transformation from a city governed by the rule of law to one ruled by fear. Imprisoning a 78-year-old man for doing nothing more than exercising his rights shows a complete disregard for human dignity. Every day he spends behind bars is a grave injustice.

“With this ruling we see yet again how Hong Kong’s National Security Law is being used to distort fundamental freedoms into criminal acts. Jimmy Lai’s imprisonment is a cold-blooded attack of freedom of expression that epitomises the systematic dismantling of rights that once defined Hong Kong.

“Jimmy Lai is a prisoner of conscience who should never have spent a single day behind bars. The Hong Kong authorities must immediately and unconditionally release him.”

Attack on press freedom

The sentencing of pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison by Hong Kong’s High Court today, follows his conviction in December 2025.

Lai was charged with “collusion with a foreign country or external elements” under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law on 11 December 2020. He has been continuously detained since 31 December 2020. He was later charged with two more counts of “conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or external elements” under the National Security Law, and one more count of “conspiracy to publish seditious publications” under the Crimes Ordinance.

Hong Kong authorities said the charges related to the publication of articles in Apple Daily, a newspaper owned by Lai, that called on foreign countries to impose sanctions. The authorities also cited Lai’s meetings with US politicians and interviews with overseas media, his Twitter (now X) posts and his list of followers on the platform which included prominent foreign politicians and NGOs supportive of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.

Lai was denied bail in February 2021 when Hong Kong’s highest court ruled that national security cases were an exception to the presumption in favour of bail. Amnesty research published in June 2025 found that this was the case in 89% of national security cases. The Hong Kong government also prohibited Lai’s British lawyer Timothy Owen from representing him.

Jimmy Lai founded the outspoken Apple Daily in 1995. Shortly after the National Security Law was introduced on 30 June 2020, nearly 200 police raided the newspaper’s headquarters. It was the first time the law was invoked to search a media outlet’s premises, and Lai was arrested along with his two sons and several newspaper executives. Apple Daily closed in June 2021 following another police raid and the freezing of its assets, in what Amnesty at the time called a brazen attack on press freedom. Prior to today’s sentencing, Hong Kong courts have convicted Lai in four separate cases involving “unauthorised assemblies” and fraud and handed down prison sentences totaling more than seven years. In 2024, Amnesty recognised Lai as a prisoner of conscience alongside human rights lawyers Chow Hang-tung and Ding Jiaxi.

ENDS

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