France – Reporters Without Borders, Aug. 12, 2025
With the landmark trial of Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai nearing its end, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) once again urges his immediate release. The founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily, whose health has deteriorated after 1,685 days in solitary confinement, faces a potential life sentence under Hong Kong’s National Security Law.
On 14 August 2025, the court will begin hearing closing arguments in Jimmy Lai’snational security trial, as his health continues to deteriorate in detention. The founder of Apple Daily, and laureate of the 2020 RSF Press Freedom Award, has been detained for almost 5 years without conviction, and faces two charges of “collusion with foreign forces” and conspiring to publish “seditious” material, under the National Security Law for which he could be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Since his arrest in December 2020, Lai, who is a British citizen, has been subjected to harsh solitary confinement, restricted to just 50 minutes of “exercise” per day, with barely any access to natural light. At 77 years of age, the denial of proper specialised medical care puts him at severe risk of life-threatening complications from his diabetes. His international legal team has already sounded the alarm over his alarming weight loss and mounting frailty, warning that his physical condition is rapidly deteriorating and may soon become critical.
