- Title: Friend and supporter saddened by Jimmy Lai's 20-year jail sentence
- Date: 9th February 2026
- Summary: HONG KONG,CHINA (FEBRUARY 9, 2026) (REUTERS) RETIRED BISHOP CARDINAL JOSEPH ZEN ZE-KIUN AND JIMMY LAI’S WIFE, TERESSA LAI, ARRIVING AT COURT BUILDING JOURNALISTS OUTSIDE COURT TERESA AND ZEN LEAVING COURT, BEING SURROUNDED BY SECURITIES AND JOURNALISTS VAN CARRYING LAI’S WIFE AND ZEN LEAVING (SOUNDBITE) (Cantonese) LAI’S FRIEND AND FORMER COLUMNIST AT APPLE DAILY, WONG K
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: Apple Daily China Hong Kong Jimmy Lai court jail security laws sentencing
- Location: HONG KONG, CHINA
- City: HONG KONG, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA001381109022026RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Friends and supporters of Jimmy Lai said on Monday (January 9) that they were saddened after the Hong Kong media tycoon and democratic firebrand was sentenced to a total of 20 years in jail on three charges comprising two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of publishing seditious materials.
Speaking to the media, Wong Kee-kwan, a former columnist at Apple Daily and Lai's friend, said the newspaper founder's friends sobbed after the sentencing is announced.
A 20-year imprisonment was a signal to the others, especially to the media and press, and is a big strike to all the media in Hong Kong, Wong later added.
The sentence ends Hong Kong's highest-profile national security trial and a legal saga hat has spanned nearly five years.
Lai, founder of the now defunct Apple Daily newspaper, was first arrested in August 2020 and convicted last year.
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