Hong Kong's once-vibrant media outlets have responded with silence or celebration to the 20-year jail sentence handed down to Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy media tycoon and critic of the Chinese Communist party. Lai, 78, was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison after being convicted of sedition and colluding with foreign forces under Hong Kong’s national security law. The charges were widely seen as politically motivated and designed to silence one of Hong Kong’s most influential pro-democracy campaigners.
Lai is the founder of Apple Daily, a popular pro-democracy newspaper that was forced to close in 2021 amid a crackdown on dissent. After months of protests, which Lai and his newspaper supported, Beijing imposed a national security law on the city. Lai was one of the earliest, and most high-profile, people to be arrested under the new legislation.
Hong Kong’s press associations, once the voices of media freedom in the city, reacted with silence. Selina Cheng, chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), said: “I’m not free to speak my mind on the Apple Daily sentencing.” The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong (FCC) said it had no comment. Ronson Chan, a former chair of the HKJA, said it was “abnormal” for the five press associations to have no response, calling it a “manipulation by the authority”.
Local media outlets generally celebrated the sentence. The South China Morning Post, owned by Alibaba, argued that Lai’s case shows the rule of law remains “robust” in Hong Kong. HK01 praised the sentencing, saying it “marks the end of that politically chaotic period”. Ta Kung Pao, a state-owned newspaper, said: “The anti-China and pro-chaos forces represented by Jimmy Lai have been forever nailed to the pillar of historical shame.”
The US, UK, EU and UN have condemned the heavy sentence and called for Lai’s release. Aleksandra Bielakowska of Reporters Without Borders said: “Since the enactment of the national security law, media organisations and journalists in Hong Kong have faced unprecedented pressure from the authorities… Hong Kong no longer provides space for critical voices.”
