Jimmy Lai, the jailed Hong Kong media owner and pro-democracy advocate, was honoured on Tuesday, 23rd June, 2026 at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn, a moment that underscored both his influence and his absence.
Lai, who has been in detention since December 2020, received the DW Freedom of Speech Award for his long-standing defence of press freedom and democratic values. In his place, his daughter, Claire Lai, stepped forward to accept the award and to deliver a message shaped by years of separation.
“My father, in his recent testimony, said it best,” she told the audience. “The more information you have, the more you are in the know, the more you are free.” She traced that belief back to the founding of Apple Daily, the outspoken newspaper Lai launched in 1995, years before Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule.
Her remarks were both tribute and testimony. Claire Lai spoke candidly about the strain of imprisonment on her father, who turns 79 this year.
“He suffers from cascading health issues,” she said. “Some were there before, others developed in detention. All are poorly managed.”
She paused before adding: “The same man who taught me to love running sometimes does not have the strength to stand.”
Lai has spent more than five and a half years behind bars. For most of that time, his daughter said, he has been held in solitary confinement.
His case has become one of the most visible symbols of the tightening grip on dissent in Hong Kong. Once a British colony known for its lively press, the city has in recent years seen sweeping changes under Beijing’s national security law.
In early 2026, Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison after a lengthy trial. The charges included conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and publishing what authorities described as seditious material. Critics, including press freedom groups, have argued that the case reflects a broader effort to silence independent voices.
Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive of the Committee to Protect Journalists, echoed that concern in Bonn. She urged the audience not to treat Lai’s struggle as distant or abstract.
“Jimmy’s fight is not a solo fight,” she said. “We honour him not only by calling for his freedom, but by defending the freedoms for which he was jailed.”
Ginsberg added that defending those values requires action, not just words. “The real test,” she said, “is whether we are willing to stand up when those principles are under pressure.”
Born in mainland China in 1947, Lai fled to Hong Kong as a child. He built a successful clothing business before turning to media. Through Apple Daily, he became a vocal supporter of democratic reform and a frequent critic of Beijing.
The newspaper was forced to shut down in 2021 after authorities froze its assets, marking a turning point for Hong Kong’s media landscape.
The award presented in Bonn marked the 12th edition of the DW Freedom of Speech Award, which recognises individuals who show courage in defending free expression. Previous recipients have included journalists and activists from across the world.
The Global Media Forum, which continues this week, has brought together journalists, policymakers and civil society leaders to discuss the future of media, from artificial intelligence to the growing pressure on independent reporting.
Yet on Tuesday, the focus remained firmly on one absent figure and the cost of speaking out.
As Claire Lai left the stage, her message lingered: the fight for a free press, she suggested, is far from over.
Heading into day two
The Global Media Forum continues today, Wednesday with discussions on artificial intelligence, media innovation, platform regulation, press freedom and the future of trusted information in an increasingly complex media landscape.
DW Freedom of Speech Award
Since 2015, DW has awarded the Freedom of Speech Award to spotlight restricted press freedom of the world and honor the exceptional work of journalists and human rights defenders. Past honorees include Georgian journalist Tamar Kintsurashvili (2025), Yulia Navalnaya and the Russian Anti-Corruption Foundation (2024), Óscar Martínez, editor-in-chief of online outlet El Faro in El Salvador (2023), and Ukrainian war reporters Evgeniy Maloletka and Mstyslav Chernov (2022), who won the “Best Documentary” award at the 2024 Oscars for “20 Days in Mariupol.”
About DW Global Media Forum
The annual DW Global Media Forum provides a unique interdisciplinary platform for media professionals and decision-makers from politics, civil society, culture, education, business, and science worldwide to exchange ideas and learn from each other. The Global Media Forum is supported by the Federal Foreign Office, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Foundation for International Dialogue of the Sparkasse in Bonn, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Commissioner of the Federal Government for Culture and Media, and the City of Bonn.
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