Ex-Apple Daily editor appeals 10-year prison sentence

2026-03-10 - 08:15

A former top editor of Hong Kong’s now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper has filed an appeal against his 10-year jail term in a high-profile national security case which saw media mogul Jimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years. Apple Daily’s executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung looking through the paper’s copy on June 17, 2021. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP. A High Court document showed on Monday that Lam Man-chung, ex-executive editor-in-chief at the tabloid, had lodged an appeal against his sentence. A hearing date has not yet been fixed. Lam, 56, was sentenced to a decade in prison last month for conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed national security law. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to request foreign countries to impose sanctions, blockade, or engage in hostile activities against China and Hong Kong. He is the second defendant in the case to file an appeal, following former editorial writer Fung Wai-kong, who is also appealing a 10-year jail term. Record jail terms Meanwhile, Lai will not appeal against his conviction and 20-year jail term, one of his lawyers, who requested anonymity, told HKFP on Friday. See also: How national security judges sentenced Jimmy Lai, from health records to foreign collusion Lai, who pleaded not guilty, was convicted in December on two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiring to publish seditious materials. His 20-year jail term is the heaviest penalty meted out so far under the Beijing-imposed security law. Media tycoon Jimmy Lai and co-defendants were sentenced on February 9, 2026. Graphic: Hans Tse/HKFP. Lam, Fung, and six other co-defendants pleaded guilty before Lai’s trial began in 2023. Five of them testified for the prosecution against Lai and were sentenced to jail terms of up to seven years and three months. Lam and Fung did not testify for the prosecution and only received a one-third sentence reduction for their guilty pleas. Ryan Law, former Apple Daily editor-in-chief who also did not testify in Lai’s trial, was similarly sentenced to 10 years in jail. He has not file an appeal.