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China summons Western envoys in Hong Kong over Jimmy Lai sentencing criticism
Jimmy Lai received the longest sentence under Hong Kong's national security law, with co-defendants jailed for 6 to 10 years for foreign collusion, judges said.
- On February 9, 2026, Jimmy Lai, pro-democracy media tycoon, was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building after a hearing lasting less than 10 minutes.
- Under the Beijing-imposed national security law, the court found Lai guilty of foreign collusion, a `grave` offence punishable from 10 years to life, and raised his starting sentence as the `mastermind`.
- Judges disclosed medical records showing Lai's health conditions and cited his BMI of 26.4 and 26.2 from the medical report dated January 9, 2026.
- Lai's family and rights groups condemned the sentence as a `death sentence`, while Keir Starmer met Xi Jinping on Jan. 29 and the Hang Seng Index rose 1.8% on the day of sentencing.
- With Western engagement rising over the past year, observers note the Chinese Communist Party's crackdown has narrowed free expression, risking Hong Kong's long-term prospects as a global financial center.
22 Articles
22 Articles
View: Why markets should care about Jimmy Lai’s sentence
Andy’s viewThe opening scenes of Milton Friedman’s popular TV series,, feature panoramic harbor views of Hong Kong, his favorite economy. In his telling, the city was a neoliberal economic “utopia.”That was never quite true, but there’s little disagreement about the key elements that underpinned its ascent from a “barren rock” to a glittering metropolis: Free markets and free speech.Nobody embodied that combination more than the clothing entrepr…
Jimmy Lai, pro-democracy activist and Hong Kong press magnate, never went to bed in the face of pressure from the Chinese regime. Beijing finally won the case and just got the 20-year prison sentence of the founder of the Apple Daily, figure of the protest in the People's Republic.
Outrage As Hong Kong Jails Media Tycoon Jimmy Lai To 20 Years Along With 8 Journalists (Worthy News In-Depth)
by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent WASHINGTON / HONG KONG / BEIJING (Worthy News) – Christian rights activists have condemned Chinese and Hong Kong authorities after Catholic publisher and democracy advocate Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison under Hong Kong’s sweeping National Security Law. ChinaAid, a U.S.-based Christian advocacy group, told Worthy News on Thursday that the ruling represents a grave ass…
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