A Hong Kong court on Monday sentenced pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison over national security offences, a move rights groups condemned as “effectively a death sentence” and emblematic of the city’s shrinking press freedoms. The 78-year-old, founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, had been convicted in December 2025 on two counts of foreign collusion under the sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020, as well as one count of seditious publication.

The White Paper said that Hong Kong's practice of safeguarding national security had consolidated the security foundation of the city's one country, two systems governance model.

Washington DC: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper have condemned the imprisonment of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy

Since Jimmy Lai was sentenced, China has released a white paper outlining plans to further enhance a draconian national security law that's been used to clamp down on free speech and dissent in Hong Kong.

The White Paper said that Hong Kong's practice of safeguarding national security had consolidated the security foundation of the city's one country, two systems governance model.

A Hong Kong kangaroo court on Monday handed a 20-year sentence to Jimmy Lai, 78 and in his sixth year in jail, for the crime of journalism.