HONG KONG: International governments, human rights bodies, and Press freedom groups have condemned the sentence of Media magnate and Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai as a politically motivated effort to silence one of the city’s most prominent critical voices.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ – the world’s largest organisation representing 600,000 media professionals from 187 trade unions and associations in more than 140 countries) – has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Jimmy Lai and all other journalists presently behind bars here.
According to the IFJ’s annual Killed List for 2025, China (including Hong Kong) continues to be the world’s worst jailer of media workers, with 143 currently imprisoned. The IFJ has consistently documented the destruction of press freedom in the city and has urged the international community to maintain pressure on the Hong Kong and Chinese governments to respect their obligations under Hong Kong’s Basic Law.
IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “It is a dark day for press freedom. The 20-year prison sentence imposed on Jimmy Lai amounts to a deliberate act of political vengeance. By sentencing Lai, the Hong Kong authorities have shown utter contempt for human rights, the rule of law and international obligations. This sentence is a huge setback for journalists everywhere and a glaring warning that dissent will be crushed. We demand Jimmy Lai’s immediate and unconditional release.”
The Federation of Asia Pacific Journalists (FAPaJ), Member at Large, G. M. Jamali, while demanding release of Jimmy Lai, pointed out that 118 male and 10 female journalists lost their lives in 2025.
Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Hong Kong High Court on Monday (9th Feb, 2026) following his conviction in the city’s most prominent national security case. The 78-year-old pro-democracy media owner and British citizen was sentenced on two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under the internationally condemned National Security Law and one count of conspiracy to publish seditious publications under the Crimes Ordinance.
The sentence, which follows a trial lasting nearly two years amid repeated delays, is effectively a ‘life term’ for the veteran publisher, who has already spent more than 1,800 days in detention since his arrest in 2020. At the time of his earliest possible release in 2044, with two years coinciding with his existing prison term, Lai would be aged 96. The West Kowloon court also sentenced six former Apple Daily employees who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces in 2022 after their arrest in 2021.
Former executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung, editor-in-chief Ryan Law Wai-kwong, and managing editor of the English edition Fung Wai-kong were each sentenced to 10 years in prison. Three other executives who testified as prosecution witnesses received reduced terms, including associate publisher Chan Pui-man, lead editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee, and Next Digital Limited CEO Cheung Kim-hung, who received terms of seven years, seven years and three months, and six years and nine months, respectively.
In her 15th December conviction, Judge Esther Toh stated that Lai had harboured hatred and resentment for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with the intent to “seek the downfall” of the Chinese Communist Party. The prosecution’s case focused on Lai’s pro-democracy activism and editorials published in Apple Daily, which was forced to shutter in 2021 after a police raid and the freezing of its financial assets.
Concerns also persist regarding Lai’s deteriorating health during his time in maximum-security solitary confinement, with the media owner facing heart palpitations and diabetes, among other issues.
Lai was already serving sentences totalling nearly ten years for his role in organising unauthorised demonstrations and separate fraud charges. His case is a central element of the broader crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong since the introduction of the National Security Law in 2020, which has decimated the city’s once-vibrant independent media landscape.
Newspakistan.tv/IFJ
M. M. Alam is a Pakistan-based working journalist since 1981. Karachi University faculty gold medalist Alam began his career forty-five years ago by writing for Dawn, Pakistan’s highest circulating English daily. He has worked for region’s leading publications, global aviation periodicals including Rotors (of USA) and vetted New York Times as permanent employee of daily Express Tribune. Alam regularly covers international aviation and defense-related events including Salon Du Bourget (France), Farnborough (United Kingdom), Dubai (UAE). Alam has reported thousands of events and interviewed hundreds of people in Pakistan, UAE, EU, UK and USA. Being Francophone Alam also coordinates with a number of French publications.
