HONG KONG: Jimmy Lai, the 78-year-old pro-democracy former Hong Kong media tycoon and a fierce critic of Beijing, received a 20-year jail sentence under a China-imposed national security law.

Lai had been convicted in December, and given his age, the prison term could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.

Three government-approved judges decided not to impose the harshest punishment, life in prison. He was found guilty of working with others to cooperate with foreign forces and of planning to publish articles considered seditious.

The other people in the case — six former workers from his Apple Daily newspaper and two activists — were sentenced to prison terms ranging from about 6 years to 10 years.

Judge Esther Toh said that 18 years of Lai's new sentence would be added to the five years and nine months he had already received in a fraud case.

Lai smiled and waved to supporters when he arrived at court, but looked serious when he left, while some people in the gallery cried. When reporters asked if they would appeal, his lawyer, Robert Pang, said he had no comment.

Lai's arrest and trial have raised worries that press freedom in Hong Kong is weakening. The government says the case is not about freedom of the press and claims the accused used journalism as an excuse to harm China and Hong Kong.

Lai was one of the first well-known figures arrested under the national security law in 2020. Within a year, several senior Apple Daily journalists were also arrested, and the newspaper closed in June 2021. Its final issue sold one million copies.

His sentencing may increase tensions between Beijing and other countries. The United States and the United Kingdom have criticized his conviction.

Before the sentencing, Lai's daughter Claire told the Associated Press that she hopes authorities will release her father, who is Roman Catholic. She said their faith is in God and that they will keep fighting for his freedom.

Lai started Apple Daily, a newspaper known for criticizing the governments in Hong Kong and Beijing. He was arrested in August 2020 under the security law, which was later used to arrest many leading activists in Hong Kong.

During his 156-day trial, prosecutors said he worked with former newspaper staff and activists to ask foreign governments to place sanctions or take hostile actions against Hong Kong or China. Lai testified for 52 days in his own defense, saying he did not call for foreign sanctions after the law began.

In December, the judges ruled that Lai was the main planner behind the alleged plots and that he never changed his goal of weakening the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

Amnesty International said the sentence was "another sad milestone" for Hong Kong. A representative from the group said jailing a 78-year-old man for simply using his rights shows a lack of respect for human dignity.