Hong Kong
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Former Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, ending a years-long legal battle that has come to define Beijing’s transformational crackdown on the once-freewheeling financial hub.
The 78-year-old self-made billionaire was among the highest-profile government critics charged since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the semi-autonomous southern city in 2020.
The sentence is the longest delivered under the national security law and means Lai will not be eligible for parole until he is in his late 90s.
It will likely galvanize international calls for the media mogul’s release in the…