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Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in jail following his conviction on foreign collusion and sedition charges.

Lai, 78, appeared at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Monday morning to receive his sentence ? over two years after his trial began.

He was convicted in December under the national security law, which Beijing imposed in June 2020 following the 2019 pro-democracy protests and unrest.

Lai was accused of using his tabloid, Apple Daily, to lobby foreign nations to impose sanctions, blockades, or other hostile activities upon China and Hong Kong. He was also accused of inciting hatred against the authorities with 161 op-eds he allegedly wrote and published in the now-shuttered newspaper.

He faced judges hand-picked to preside over national security cases and was denied his first choice of lawyer.

During mitigation hearings last month, the Apple Daily founder?s lawyers pleaded for leniency, citing his ?advanced years? and a raft of health problems.

Lai is currently serving a five-year, nine-month sentence handed down in December 2022 for a fraud case relating to a lease violation at Apple Daily?s headquarters.

Eighteen years of Lai’s new 20-year jail term will be served consecutively with the fraud sentence.

August 10, 2020 – Police arrested Jimmy Lai on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces. Over 100 police officers raided Apple Daily’s offices.

December 3, 2020 – Lai was arrested for alleged fraud and denied bail.

December 11, 2020 – Lai was formally charged with “collusion with foreign forces,” becoming the first person to be charged with collusion under the national security law.

December 23, 2020 – High Court judge Alex Lee granted bail to Lai on conditions including that he stayed at home except for court hearings and reporting to the police.

December 31, 2020 – Lai was put in custody after the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) allowed the justice department to appeal against Lai’s bail.

February 9, 2021 – The CFA ruled in favour of the government and Lai’s bail was revoked.

February 16, 2021 – Lai was arrested in custody on suspicion of assisting Andy Li abscond to Taiwan.

February 18, 2021 – The High Court dismissed Lai’s bail application.

April 1, 2021 – Lai, along with six other pro-democracy activists, was found guilty of organising and taking part in an “unlawful assembly” in August 2019. He was later sentenced to 12 months in prison for this offence. Lai was cleared of the organising conviction in August 2023. The case is still under appeal.

May 28, 2021 – Lai, along with nine other pro-democracy activists, was sentenced to 14 months in jail for his “organising” role in a protest in October 2019.

June 17, 2021 – Police raided Apple Daily a second time, arresting five senior executives including chief editor Ryan Law and Next Digital CEO Cheung Kim-hung. Police also froze HK$ 18 million worth of assets linked to Apple Daily.

June 24, 2021 – Apple Daily issued its last edition after 26 years. Hundreds of supporters gathered outside its headquarters the night before as the tabloid went out of print.

December 13, 2021 – Lai, along with seven other pro-democracy activists, was found guilty for organising, taking part in, or inciting others to join the banned Tiananmen crackdown vigil in 2020. He was sentenced to 13 months in jail.

November 22, 2022 – Six senior executives of Apple Daily and its parent company Next Digital pleaded guilty to collusion.

November 28, 2022 – Chief Executive John Lee invited Beijing to interpret the national security law to determine whether foreign counsels can participate in national security cases, after the government failed to block Lai from hiring British barrister Timothy Owen.

December 1, 2022 – Lai’s trial was adjourned until December 13 while the city waited for Beijing to “clarify” whether overseas lawyers are allowed to appear in such cases.

December 10, 2022 – Lai was sentenced to 5 years and 9 months in prison for fraud over a lease violation of the Next Digital headquarters.

December 13, 2022 – Lai’s trial was adjourned again until September 25, 2023.

December 30, 2022 – The Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress confirmed that Hong Kong’s chief executive and Committee for Safeguarding National Security had the authority to decide whether overseas lawyers could take part in security law trials.

August 18, 2023 – During a pre-trial review, Lai’s collusion trial was further postponed until December.

September 26, 2023 – Lai’s 1,000th day in custody. International groups called for his release, while the government slammed such demands as “slanderous.”

December 18, 2023 – Lai’s collusion case begins.

December 15, 2025 – Lai found guilty.

February, 9, 2026 ? Lai sentenced.

Lai received his sentence on Monday alongside eight defendants, including six former Apple Daily executives and two activists.

Publisher Cheung Kim-hung received six years and nine months behind bars, associate publisher Chan Pui-man got seven years, and editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee was sentenced to seven years and three months. Meanwhile, editor-in-chief Ryan Law, executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung, and editorial writer Fung Wai-kong all received 10-year jail terms.

Cheung, Chan and Yeung had testified against Lai in exchange for shorter sentences.

Two former activists linked to the international lobby group Stand with Hong Kong, who also testified against Lai, were also jailed. Chan Tsz-wah got six years and three months behind bars, whilst Andy Li received seven years and three months.

Lai and the other co-defendants appeared impassive as judges handed down their sentences.

However, just as Judge Esther Toh sentenced Law to a decade in jail, Lai appeared to speak to himself as he turned around and looked towards his colleague.

A heavy police presence was seen outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Monday morning. Police recorded the ID card details of people queueing for public seats, and allowed them to leave only briefly to use the toilet and for other personal needs.

Some were not allowed to return, as they were away for too long, some court-watchers told HKFP. Those in line were separated from the press with a police cordon.

Among those queuing were representatives of foreign consulates, as well as former employees of Apple Daily who said they wished to show support to their former boss and colleagues.

“I believe they must be very nervous, because they will know their sentences in a matter of hours,” Tammy Cheung, who worked as a reporter at Apple Daily for 16 years, said of the defendants.

Activist Lui Yuk-lin, who was queuing to attend Monday’s hearing, told reporters that some of her belongings had been confiscated by police officers, including a plush figure of Pepe the frog – an internet meme character that became a pro-democracy mascot during the 2019 protests and unrest – as well as a crocheted mandarin orange, a symbol of good fortune for the Lunar New Year.

She and activist Tsang Kin-shing, known as ?the Bull,? were searched by police.

Police officers reportedly detained a woman and brought her into a police vehicle after they found an Apple Daily keychain in her possession. It is unclear if the woman was arrested. HKFP has reached out to the police for comment.

In a document describing the court?s reasons for sentencing, the three presiding judges ? Toh, Alex Lee, and Susana Maria D?Almada Remedios- said they had ?no doubt? that Lai was the ?mastermind? of the conspiracies and therefore deserved a heavier sentence.

The judges said that while an offender?s life expectancy, age, health, and prospect of dying behind bars were factors for consideration, they ?had to be balanced against the gravity of the offence, and the public interest in seeing adequate punishment for serious crimes.?

The judges acknowledged Lai?s medical conditions, such as heart palpitations, progressive hearing loss and retinal vein occlusion ? an eye disorder that causes reduced vision.

But they said none of Lai?s conditions were life-threatening, citing his lawyer.

The judges also said they were ?not inclined to give Lai any deduction for his medical condition,? but they accepted his lawyer?s argument that the combination of Lai’s old age, health condition and solitary confinement would make his prison life more burdensome than that of other inmates.

In December, the court found Lai guilty on all charges. Judges said he sought ?the downfall? of China?s Communist Party, at the cost of the interests of people in Hong Kong and mainland China. The verdict attracted international criticism from press freedom NGOs and Western countries.

On Monday, NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) called the 20-year jail term ?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 criticize the Communist Party,? the HRW?s statement read.

Committee to Protect Journalists CEO Jodie Ginsberg said on Monday, “The rule of law has been completely shattered in Hong Kong… Today’s egregious decision is the final nail in the coffin for freedom of the press in Hong Kong.?

After Lai was found guilty in December, Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong described the court?s verdict as a “stern warning” to “anti-China” forces. In contrast, press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said the ruling showed an “alarming deterioration of media freedom” in the city.

US President Donald Trump said he felt “so badly” about Lai’s conviction and that he had spoken to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, urging Lai’s release.

See also: Beijing, Hong Kong officials praise Jimmy Lai’s guilty verdict, press freedom NGOs slam nat. security ruling

Last month, Hong Kong?s top judge Andrew Cheung criticised the calls to free Lai, saying such a demand strikes “at the very heart of the rule of law,” without naming Trump.

Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong?s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts ? broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.

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x Hans Tse is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in local politics, academia, and media transformation. He was previously a social science researcher, with writing published in the Social Movement Studies and Social Transformation of Chinese Societies journals. He holds an M.Phil in communication from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Before joining HKFP, he also worked as a freelance reporter for Initium between 2019 and 2021, where he covered the height - and aftermath - of the 2019 protests, as well as the sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.

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