Overview
- Judges imposed a 20-year term on the 78-year-old media entrepreneur, crediting roughly two years already served and ordering 18 more for collusion with foreign forces and publishing seditious materials.
- The punishment is the longest to date under Hong Kong’s national security law enacted after the 2019 protests.
- Rights groups and press-freedom organizations denounced the ruling as a blow to free expression, while the EU called for Lai’s immediate and unconditional release and the UN rights chief urged the verdict be overturned.
- Hong Kong authorities and Beijing defended the case as lawful enforcement, with officials praising the decision as consistent with rule of law.
- Several former Apple Daily staff and other activists also received multi-year sentences, and Lai’s lawyers sought leniency citing age and health as prosecutors described his condition as stable.