World Editors Forum President: “Free Jimmy Lai. Let him leave Hong Kong.”
Jimmy Lai, 78, the media tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner, has been found guilty by Hong Kong’s High Court of sedition and conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under the city’s national security law.
He will be sentenced next year and could face life in jail.
Reacting to the verdict, David Walmsley, World Editors Forum President and Editor in Chief of Canada’s Globe and Mail, said: “When the imprisoned Jimmy Lai received the Golden Pen of Freedom in absentia in 2021, it was already too long since he had seen family and been allowed his freedom.”
“This week’s conviction, still years later, on national security grounds, says more about the authorities of a once free Hong Kong than it does about the act of free speech and Apple Daily’s journalism. The World Editors Forum continues to appeal to those making the decision: Free Jimmy Lai. Let him leave Hong Kong. You have made your point.”
Lai and the staff of the shuttered Apple Daily were awarded the Golden Pen in 2021 to highlight the fears and challenges of journalists in Hong Kong and the region, in the face of heightening curbs on their ability to do their jobs credibly and independently.
Lai had been an outspoken critic of Beijing’s control over Hong Kong and a high-profile supporter of the pro-democracy movement, making him and his media company regular targets for the authorities.
The Golden Pen of Freedom is WAN-IFRA’s annual award recognising individuals or organisations that have made an outstanding contribution to the defence and promotion of press freedom. One of the objectives of the Golden Pen is to turn the spotlight of public attention on repressive governments and the journalists who fight them.
The laureate is nominated from a shortlist of candidates by the board of the World Editors Forum. The first Golden Pen of Freedom was awarded in 1961.
For more on the Golden Pen of Freedom, visit www.wan-ifra.org/golden-pen-of-freedom
For a profile of Jimmy Lai, visit
