Jimmy Lai outside West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court in Hong Kong, on Sept. 18, 2020. Sung Pi-lung/The Epoch Times
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says Canada is disappointed that democracy activist Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Hong Kong.
Lai, 78, is the founder of the now shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and an outspoken critic of China’s communist regime. He was convicted in December 2025 on two counts of “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” under the China-imposed national security law, and one count of “sedition” under a colonial-era sedition law, after pleading not guilty to all three charges.
