Timeline of Cases

Jimmy Lai is arrested under the National Security Law along with members of Apple Daily’s staff, and police raid their office on the orders of the National Security Department. After two days in detention, Jimmy Lai is released on bail.

Jimmy Lai’s bail is revoked, and he is returned to prison, where he remains.

Jimmy Lai is convicted on the first of many charges brought against him for his peaceful pro-democracy campaigning, this time for taking part in a rally attended by one-quarter of Hong Kong’s population. He is sentenced to a year in prison.

Jimmy Lai is sentenced to a total of 14 months in prison for two counts of unauthorized assembly.

Jimmy Lai is sentenced to another 14 months in prison, this time for organizing and taking part in a public procession.

Unable to continue operating following the arrest of its senior staff and the freezing of its assets, Apple Daily is printed for the last time. Hong Kong’s only independent Chinese language newspaper has been destroyed.

Jimmy Lai is sentenced to 13 months in prison for attending and lighting a candle at an annual vigil for the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Jimmy Lai is sentenced to five years and nine months in prison for an alleged lease violation in relation to a tiny portion of Apple Daily’s office space, the first time anything like this has been criminalized in the Hong Kong legal system, on charges condemned as spurious by the US State Department.

Jimmy Lai’s trial under the National Security Law is due to start, where he is charged with offenses relating to his pro-democracy campaigning and publishing.