February 18, 2026

Hong Kong Watch

China Drops Hammer on Hong Kong’s Leading Dissenter

pgnewser February 10, 2026

China has made it clear to the people of Hong Kong that the CCP is fully in charge and any hint of democratic freedom is officially dead. The CCP has sentenced the freedom fighter and newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison. Lai is 78 years old so the sentence is seen as a de facto death sentence. The judge gave him the harsh sentence because he accused Lai of being the mastermind behind the resistance to the CCP’s infiltration of Hong Kong.

Blurb:

Hong Kong Court Sentences Pro-Democracy Publisher Jimmy Lai to 20 Years in Prison – legalinsurrection.com

A Hong Kong Court sentenced pro-democracy, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) critic media mogul Jimmy Lai, 78, to 20 years in prison.

Six of Lai’s former employees received sentences of up to 10 years.

Lai’s daughter Claire described it as a “heartbreakingly cruel sentence,” claiming, “he will die a martyr behind bars.”

The judges determined that Lai deserved the harsh sentence “because he was ‘no doubt the mastermind’ of the conspiracies he was convicted of orchestrating.”

They cut the sentence down by 25 months due to Lai’s “health issues, which include diabetes and hypertension.”

In December, The Associated Press reported that “[T]hree government-vetted judges found Lai, 78, guilty of conspiring with others to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiracy to publish seditious articles.”

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. However, the Communists have tightened their grip on the region, especially in 2020, with a national security law:

The stringent national security law and its 66 articles were kept secret from the public until 11pm local time, when the law officially went into effect. It dramatically broadens Beijing’s powers to investigate, prosecute and punish suspected criminals in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison– thefederalist.com

pgnewser February 10, 2026

Blurb:

In a further erosion of freedom in Hong Kong, the city’s Chinese-backed government sentenced media mogul and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison on Monday.

“Having stepped back and taking a global view of the total sentence for Lai’s serious and grave criminal conduct … we are satisfied that the total sentence for Lai in the present case should be 20 years’ imprisonment,” Hong Kong’s High Court reportedly wrote in its ruling.

As The Federalist previously reported, Lai — a pro-freedom activist and founder of the city’s now-shuttered largest pro-democracy newspaper (Apple Daily) — was previously convicted by the city’s pro-China government in December “on charges of alleged collusion with foreign powers and sedition.” Most of the charges were brought under Hong Kong’s national security law, which was implemented as a means of further criminalizing dissent and solidifying the Chinese Communist Party and its allies’ control of the city.

According to CNBC, Lai’s 20-year sentence “was the longest handed out under the national security law introduced in 2020, surpassing the 10-year term given to activist Benny Tai, a former law professor who was convicted of conspiring to subvert state power, in November 2024.” Barring any shortening of his sentence or an immediate release, it’s likely the 78-year-old media tycoon — whose health is reportedly declining — will spend the remainder of his life in prison.

Jimmy Lai’s daughter: ‘My dad is shrinking to nothing. If China fails to act, he’ll be a martyr.’– www.lifesitenews.com

pgnewser December 16, 2025

Blurb:

The daughter of pro-democracy activist, businessman, former newspaper owner, and Catholic convert Jimmy Lai has spoken out for the first time since her father’s incarceration five years ago as his trial under Hong Kong’s draconian National Security Law (NSL) continues to plod along. 

In an EWTN video interview and in a Washington Post op-ed, Clarie Lai says that her father, who just turned 78 years old, is languishing in prison, “shrinking to nothing. If China fails to act, he’ll be a martyr.”

“My father is suffering from rapidly deteriorating health,” Claire wrote in the Post. “He has diabetes and hypertension, his hearing and vision are failing, he has suffered from months-long infections and is in constant pain that sometimes leaves him struggling even to stand up. But the most visible and alarming sign of his plight is severe weight loss.”

Hong Kong newspaper founder Jimmy Lai, an ardent critic of the Chinese Communist Party, was convicted Monday on three charges of sedition and collusion with foreign forces in a landmark national security case. – facebook.com

pgnewser December 16, 2025

Blurb:

Hong Kong newspaper founder Jimmy Lai, an ardent critic of the Chinese Communist Party, was convicted Monday on three charges of sedition and collusion with foreign forces in a landmark national security case.  facebook.com
from news.google.com

Hong Kong judge rules in favor of transgender bathroom access– abcnews.go.com

pgnewser July 25, 2025

Source Link
Excerpt:

HONG KONG — A Hong Kong judge on Wednesday ruled to strike down regulations criminalizing the use of bathrooms designated for the opposite sex, ruling in favor of transgender individuals’ rights to access public toilets matching their identity.

Judge Russell Coleman approved the judicial review of K, who was born a woman and identifies as a man, saying the regulations contravene an article of the city’s mini-constitution that stipulates all residents should be equal before the law.

But he suspended the declaration to strike down the regulations for a year to allow the government “to consider whether it wishes to implement a way to deal with the contravention.”

He said in the judgement that the regulations and “drawing the line of a person’s biological sex at birth create a disproportionate and unnecessary intrusion into the privacy and equality rights.”

The ruling marks another step forward in recognizing the rights of LGBTQ+ people in the Chinese financial hub. In recent years, the government has revised policies following activists’ wins in legal challenges.

The Communist Chinese Have Won. The Largest Opposition Party in Hong Kong Is Disbanding. – PJ Media– pjmedia.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025

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Excerpt:

The Communist Chinese have accomplished what many people believed was only a matter of time. Beijing has nearly destroyed the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong as the city’s Democratic Party, the largest opposition party, is disbanding.

Sheer brutality and the use of modern instruments of oppression accomplished what many activists in Hong Kong believed couldn’t be done. Perhaps they were naive in thinking that Beijing wanted a “two systems, one China” policy. Maybe they were crazy to think that Beijing meant to keep its promise to maintain Hong Kong’s autonomy for 50 years after Beijing regained control of the city in 1997.

Beijing was always playing the long game. China is an ancient country that is used to thinking in terms of centuries, not decades. It has a plan to reintegrate Hong Kong into the Chinese state, and nothing would happen that interfered with that plan. Using intimidation and draconian “security” laws, Beijing has successfully stymied the movement to maintain Hong Kong’s position as a quasi-independent city and will now complete the process of making Hong Kong just another city in China after the Democratic Party disbands.

It’s difficult to remember that when the British handed over Hong Kong to Beijing, there was hope that the Communists would keep their word and allow Hong Kong to maintain its civil liberties. For a while, Beijing kept its promise. But the noose gradually tightened, choking off any hope for freedom.

“We have not achieved what we set out to do,” Fred Li, a founding member of the party, said in an interview. “Without money or resources, we can’t even survive ourselves.”