Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai faces sentencing in national security trial 

A court in Hong Kong has sentenced pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai to 20 years in jail following his conviction on charges of foreign collusion and seditious publication.

The 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper heard his sentence before three High Court judges on Monday.

Lai has already spent more than five years behind bars as the trial has progressed.

He was found guilty in December on two counts of foreign collusion under a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing, as well as one count of seditious publication.

Ahead of the sentencing, Western governments and rights groups called for Lai’s release, with some denouncing the case as “nothing but a charade”.

Lai’s family, lawyer, supporters and former colleagues have warned that he could die in prison as he suffers from health conditions, including heart palpitations and high blood pressure.

In addition to Lai, six former senior Apple Daily staffers, an activist and a paralegal will also be sentenced on Monday.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had raised Lai’s case during his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing last month, adding that the discussion was “respectful”.

Lai is a British citizen.

United States President Donald Trump has also called for Lai’s release.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement that Lai’s trial “has been nothing but a charade from the start and shows total contempt for Hong Kong laws that are supposed to protect press freedom”.

Reporters Without Borders said the sentencing “will resonate far beyond Jimmy Lai himself, sending a decisive signal about the future of press freedom in the territory”.

Beijing has dismissed such criticism as attempts to smear Hong Kong’s judicial system, while Hong Kong authorities maintain that Lai’s case “has nothing to do with freedom of speech and of the press”.

Ahead of the sentencing, dozens of police officers and an armoured vehicle were deployed outside the West Kowloon court, as dozens of people, including journalists, gathered outside.

Hong Kong Free Press reported that police detained a woman after finding an Apple Daily keychain in her possession. At least two other activists were also searched, including Tsang Kin-shing, a member of the now-disbanded League of Social Democrats.

“We hope that [Lai] can regain his freedom… I am worried, because of his advanced age,” Tsang told AFP news agency.

The sentencing comes against the backdrop of heightened restrictions on the Hong Kong press.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association said in 2024 that dozens of journalists faced “systematic and organised” harassment and intimidation, including leaked personal information and death threats.

According to Reporters Without Borders, at least 900 Hong Kong journalists lost their jobs in the four years following the enactment of the national security law in the city.