Hong Kong's media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s 20-Year Term Deepens Press Crackdown

Former publisher and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Hong Kong on 9 February 2026 for national security offences. 

Given his age — 78 — and declining health, international human rights groups have voiced grave concern over the ruling. The case has also raised global alarm over the state of press freedom in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Journalist Associations (HKJA), which used to be the most vocal advocate for press freedom in the city, stayed silent after the sentence. 

“I’m not free to speak my mind on the Apple Daily sentencing,” said Selina Cheng, the Chairperson of the HKJA, told The Guardian. 

This reticence follows a December 2025 accusation from the Hong Kong government that the HKJA was whitewashing Lai’s image.

Hong Kong's press freedom index has gradually declined in recent years, ranking 140th in 2025 and falling into the ‘very serious’ category, the worst category for the first time, alongside China, North Korea, and Iran. 

The ranking began to decline in 2020, when the National Security Law was enacted. In 2024, Stand News was charged with conspiring to publish seditious publications, and its former editor-in-chief was sentenced to 21 months in prison. This marked the first case against media workers in Hong Kong since the city’s 1997 handover to China.

“A 20-year sentence is unimaginable. I feel heartbroken,” said a Hong Kong journalist, who requested anonymity for safety concerns.

“In this era of journalism, there was an unspoken understanding to do as much as possible within the available space; no one ever thought that breaking this unwritten rule would result in such a harsh penalty. It's shocking, and I'm concerned for the media space in Hong Kong.” She added.

“This verdict is just sealing the atmosphere of fear that we have been seeing in the city. Sending a chilling effect on the media outlets,” said Aleksandra Bielakowska, the Asia Pacific Advocacy Manager of Reporters Without Borders (RSF). 

“Even in China, journalist sentences rarely exceed 15 years—except for Rahile Dawut,” said Aleksandra from RSF. “Lai’s 20-year term draws a stark red line for those still working.” Independent journalism in Hong Kong, she added, is “nearly extinct.”