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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2025
Hong Kong: Freedom House Condemns Unjust Conviction of Jimmy Lai
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The former media owner’s case is just one of many in a multiyear crackdown on freedom of speech and dissent, and another signal that the rule of law has deteriorated under Beijing’s influence.
WASHINGTON—In response to the December 15 conviction of former media owner and democracy advocate Jimmy Lai in a Hong Kong court, Freedom House Presidents Gerardo Berthin and Annie Boyajian issued the following statement:
“Jimmy Lai’s conviction, on vague charges of colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiracy to publish seditious content, is a profound injustice that was essentially predetermined under Hong Kong’s National Security Law, imposed by Beijing in 2020. Among other serious flaws, the law allows lengthy sentences for ill-defined offenses, empowers the government to decide which judges preside over national security cases, and makes it difficult to obtain bail. Lai, 78, has been continuously detained
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and imprisoned on numerous charges since 2020, and his health has steadily declined behind bars. He is just one of many Hong Kong activists, politicians, and journalists who have faced prosecution under the National Security Law or other repressive legislation in recent years.
“Lai’s impressive career as a businessman, media owner, and outspoken champion of democracy was made possible by Hong Kong’s unique environment, where social and economic dynamism historically rested on a foundation of robust civil liberties and the rule of law. That foundation has been systematically dismantled under pressure from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime in Beijing, causing the territory’s total score
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in Freedom House’s Freedom in the World report to drop from 68 out of 100 in 2010 to just 40 in 2025. In a sense, Lai’s own hardships over the past decade have mirrored the loss of freedom experienced by the entire Hong Kong population.
“We call on democratic governments around the world to use every diplomatic and economic tool at their disposal to help secure the release of Jimmy Lai and other political prisoners in Hong Kong. Democratic societies should also take steps to protect Hong Kongers living in exile from acts of transnational repression
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by the Hong Kong and Chinese governments. Finally, the world’s democracies should reinvest in long-term efforts to uphold fundamental rights in China
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, as it is increasingly clear that Hong Kong’s freedom will not be secure so long as the mainland is subject to oppressive CCP rule.”
Hong Kong is rated Partly Free
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in Freedom in the World 2025. China is rated Not Free
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in Freedom in the World 2025 and Not Free
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in Freedom on the Net 2025.
Freedom House is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to create a world where all are free.
We inform the world about threats to freedom, mobilize global action, and support democracy’s defenders.
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