PHOTO- Reporters Without Borders (RSF) strongly condemned the 20-year prison sentence handed to Apple Daily founder and publisher Jimmy Lai on bogus charges.
Hong Kong’s most prominent China critic, media tycoon Jimmy Lai, was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in jail under the city’s controversial national security law, in what rights groups condemned as “effectively a death sentence” and a symbol of the city’s shrivelling press freedoms.
Merchandise in support of Jimmy Lai is displayed before a news conference in Washington on December 15, 2025. © Julia Demaree Nikhinson, AP
Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison for foreign collusion and sedition, the harshest penalty yet under a Beijing-imposed national security law.
The 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper has been behind bars since 2020.
Here are some key reactions:
- Lai’s children: ‘Cruel’
Jimmy Lai’s son Sebastien said in a statement: “Sentencing my father to this draconian prison sentence is devastating for our family and life-threatening for my father.”
His daughter Claire added: “This is a heartbreakingly cruel sentence. Over the last five years, I have watched my father’s health deteriorate dramatically and the conditions he’s kept in go from bad to worse. If this sentence is carried out, he will die a martyr behind bars.”
- Hong Kong leader: ‘Deeply gratifying’
Hong Kong leader John Lee said Lai’s crimes were “heinous and evil in the extreme”.
“(Lai’s) heavy sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment demonstrates the rule of law, upholds justice and is deeply gratifying,” Lee said in a statement.
- Beijing: ‘No room for argument’
Lin Jian, spokesperson of China’s foreign ministry, said Lai was a Chinese citizen and was “a key planner and participant in a series of anti-China and disruptive activities in Hong Kong”.
“This is reasonable, legitimate, and legal; there is no room for argument,” Lin said at a press briefing.
- UK: ‘Rapidly engage further’
Britain’s Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper said Lai’s penalty was “tantamount to a life sentence” and reiterated calls for the tycoon’s release on humanitarian grounds.
“Following today’s sentencing we will rapidly engage further on Mr Lai’s case. We stand with the people of Hong Kong,” Cooper added.
- EU: ‘Deplores’
The European Union said it “deplores” Lai’s sentencing and called for his “immediate and unconditional release”.
“The EU calls on the Hong Kong authorities to restore confidence in press freedom in Hong Kong… and to stop prosecuting journalists,” EU foreign affairs spokesperson Anitta Hipper said.
- Australia: ‘Cease suppression of freedoms’
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged China to “cease suppression of freedoms” and repeal Hong Kong’s national security law.
“The Australian Government is gravely concerned by the sentences handed down to Jimmy Lai and his co-defendants in Hong Kong today.
“We continue to call on China to cease suppression of freedoms of expression, assembly, media and civil society, consistent with UN Human Rights Committee recommendations, and to call for the repeal of the national security law in Hong Kong.”
- Taiwan: ‘Chilling effect’
- Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement that China and Hong Kong “have brought media influence and international connections within the scope of national security measures, aiming to create a chilling effect across sectors and borders”.
- Reporters Without Borders: ‘Collapse of press freedom’
- Thibaut Bruttin, director general of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said Lai’s case was “nothing more than a sham”.
- “Today, the curtain falls on press freedom in Hong Kong. We are outraged by the harsh sentences handed down to Jimmy Lai,” Bruttin said in a statement.
- “Democracies, such as the UK and the US, must stop prioritising the normalisation of relations with China and instead exert pressure on the Chinese regime and Hong Kong authorities to ensure that Jimmy Lai and all other journalists are released from prison,” he added.
- Human Rights Watch: ‘Effectively a death sentence’
Lai’s 20-year jail term is tantamount to a death sentence, said Elaine Pearson, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).
“The harsh 20-year sentence against 78-year-old Jimmy Lai is effectively a death sentence. A sentence of this magnitude is both cruel and profoundly unjust.
“Lai’s years of persecution show the Chinese government’s determination to crush independent journalism and silence anyone who dares to criticise the Communist Party.”
- Legal scholar: ‘On the high side’
Simon Young, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, said the parts of Lai’s sentencing related to foreign collusion “appear to be on the high side”.
“I think the Court is wrong to say that (pre-national security law) conduct can be considered in assessing the gravity of the offences,” Young told AFP.
Lai’s legal team should consider an appeal of sentence, he added.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
