Hong Kong media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, 78, the founder of the now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and a British citizen, is serving a 20-year sentence on charges of “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” and “conspiracy to publish seditious material.”
Lai, who founded Next Digital Limited, a media company that published Apple Daily from 1995 until it was forced to close in 2021, was convicted on December 15, 2025, after spending five years in a maximum-security prison.
He was sentenced on February 9, 2026, alongside six former Apple Daily editors and executives, who were jailed for between 6 years and 9 months and 10 years for conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. Some served as prosecution witnesses and testified against Lai.
Lai’s imprisonment has attracted worldwide condemnation. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said Lai’s conviction violated international law and called for his immediate release. His sentencing was also condemned by the European Union, U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found in 2024 that Lai was unlawfully and arbitrarily detained.
Lai’s arrest on national security charges in 2020 came amid authorities’ crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, which targeted many media figures and activists critical of the government and the Chinese Communist Party.
On August 10, 2020, police arrested Lai, his two sons, and four Apple Daily executives for alleged collusion with foreign powers under the Beijing-imposed national security law that took effect on June 30; the executives and his sons were released on August 11, and Lai was released on bail on August 12.
On December 11, 2020, authorities charged Lai with foreign collusion under the national security law. He was returned to jail on December 31 after the court of final appeal granted prosecutors’ request to deny Lai bail, according to news reports and court documents.
On April 16, 2021, prosecutors charged Lai with an additional offense under the national security law for allegedly conspiring with others to call for foreign sanctions between July 2020 and January 2021.
Lai was also convicted in three separate cases for involvement in unauthorized demonstrations and in another case for fraud. The fraud charge, related to the alleged violation of the terms of the lease for Next Digital’s headquarters, was thrown out by a Hong Kong Court on February 26, 2026.
Lai has spent much of his detention in solitary confinement. His age and prolonged periods of isolation with restricted access to daylight and limited opportunity to exercise have taken a toll on his health, according to his family and lawyers. Lai suffers from multiple illnesses including hypertension, diabetes, and cataracts.
Lai won CPJ’s Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award in 2021 and CPJ continues to advocate for his freedom.
In response to a request for comment, Hong Kong’s Security Bureau referred CPJ to a statement that quoted the city’s leader, John Lee, saying Lai’s 20-year sentence showed “the rule of law is upheld and justice is done.”