The national security trial in Hong Kong against Jimmy Lai, owner of the shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, was again postponed on August 15, 2025, for health reasons. Lai, 77, has diabetes and has been held in prolonged solitary confinement since December 2020. Sources say that he has lost considerable weight.
Lai faces two fabricated "foreign collusion" charges under the draconian National Security Law, imposed by Beijing since June 2020, and a sedition charge based on his tweets, interviews he hosted, and Apple Daily articles. The National Security Law charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The following statement can be attributed to Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch:
"The Hong Kong government should drop the baseless charges against Jimmy Lai. Holding the 77-year-old Lai in prolonged solitary detention while his health fails has been outrageously cruel. Concerned governments should press for Lai's immediate release both for his sake and for the sake of media freedom in Hong Kong and China."
