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Home / Writers at Risk / Jimmy Lai
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Jimmy Lai

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Apple Daily publisher and opinion writer Lai was arrested in August 2020 for violating Hong Kong’s National Security Law. Released on bail a month later, Lai was soon targeted in a police raid on the paper's office. In December 2020, he was detained for “fraud,” among other charges, and was sentenced to at least 20 months in prison. In December 2025, a Hong Kong court found him guilty on two counts of “conspiring to collude with foreign forces” and a third count of “seditious publications.” In early 2026, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, an effective life sentence.