Lower thirds:

00:24 Sebastien Lai, Jimmy Lai's son
00:59 Mark Clifford, Author, former Hong Kong editor 
01:38 Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong media mogul and democracy activist
01:59 Report by / Rik Glauert

Script:

Jimmy Lai believes information can set people free.

A media mogul and one of Hong Kong's most prominent champions of democracy - he spent decades speaking out even as Beijing tightened its grip taking on the Chinese Communist Party in a way no other member of the city's elite dared.

And like the city he so loves,
he's now been silenced, locked away,
most likely for the rest of his life.

+++ Sebastien Lai, Jimmy Lai's son +++
It's it's incredibly heartbreaking because all of this is, I mean, all this is a punishment because he decided to stand up for what is right to campaign for democracy and freedom and to defend press freedom and defend his colleagues.

Jimmy Lai story is very much Hong Kong's own story.He fled Mao's China as a boy and made his fortune in the fashion industry as Hong Kong boomed.

But he saw that the city's fragile freedom and democracy needed a voice.

His newspaper, Apple Daily, became that voice.

+++ Mark Clifford, Author, former Hong Kong editor +++
It was this crazy mixture of investigative reporting, stock market tips, paparazzi scandal, 
and an unremitting focus on freedom, free people, free markets.

It was everything that made Hong Kong different from mainland China but speaking out made him a target.

He was accused of colluding with foreign forces against the Chinese government. As Beijing crushed the 2019 pro-democracy protests, his newsroom was raided, he and his editors jailed. Apple daily shut
down. A landmark trial followed, and Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

As a British passport holder, he had every chance to leave Hong Kong, but he refused.

+++ Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong media mogul and democracy activist +++
I will sink with the ship. Because this place gave me everything. You know, I'm indebted to this place. I'm very grateful for what this what this place has given me.

Jimmy Lai isn't just a publisher. He showed up in the rain, on the streets, standing shoulder to shoulder with the tens of thousands who believed Hong Kong could be better.

It's a belief he is now paying
for with his freedom.