Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison under the city's controversial national security law. The 78-year-old British citizen, founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, was convicted of colluding with foreign forces - the harshest punishment yet under the law imposed after 2019 protests.

Rights groups denounced the sentence as a "death sentence" and "final nail in the coffin for freedom of the press" in Hong Kong. Lai's son Sebastien called it the "total destruction of the Hong Kong legal system" and criticized Prime Minister Keir Starmer's recent China visit as a wasted opportunity. Hong Kong authorities defended the ruling as demonstrating the city's rule of law.

The case centered on Lai's 2019 meeting with US officials Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo to discuss Hong Kong's situation. Lai, who has already spent over five years in jail on related charges, denied using foreign contacts to influence policy. His sentencing, along with six former Apple Daily executives and two activists receiving terms up to 10 years, marks a dramatic escalation in Beijing's crackdown on dissent in the former British colony.