Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, the 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison following a national security trial.

The sentence means Lai will serve 18 years consecutively after accounting for time already served.

Lai was arrested in August 2020. In December 2025, he was convicted on three charges — two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of publishing seditious materials.

In their ruling, the three-judge panel described Lai's actions as "serious and grave criminal conduct."

"The Court was satisfied that the total sentence for Lai in the present case should be 20 years' imprisonment," according to a summary document from the judges.

Two years of the sentence will run concurrently with Lai's existing prison term, meaning he will serve 18 years from the start of this sentence.

As for other convicted journalists in the case, Apple Daily's former publisher Cheung Kim-hung was sentenced to 6 years and 9 months; former associate publisher Chan Pui-man was sentenced to 7 years; former editor-in-chief Ryan Law was sentenced to 10 years; former executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung was sentenced to 10 years; former executive editor-in-chief responsible for English news Fung Wai-kong was sentenced to 10 years and former lead editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee was sentenced to 7 years and 3 months.

The two activists convicted in the case, Andy Li Yu-hin and Chan Tsz-wah, were sentenced to 7 years and 3 months and 6 years and 3 months, respectively.

Three companies affiliated with Apple Daily, namely Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited and AD Internet Limited, were each fined around HK$3 million.