Our Coalition Partner, Freedom House, has awarded their 2026 Freedom Award to media publisher and prodemocracy advocate Jimmy Lai, who has been imprisoned in Hong Kong under a Beijing-imposed national security law. A self-made entrepreneur who built one of Asia’s most influential independent media organizations, Lai has long used his platform to defend press freedom and challenge authoritarian rule. Today, the 78-year-old British citizen is imprisoned in Hong Kong under the draconian, Beijing-imposed National Security Law, following his arrest in 2020 on politically motivated charges. He has spent more than five years in detention, almost entirely in solitary confinement. The award was introduced by the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Emerita of the United States House of Representatives and the 27th US National Security Advisor, H.E. Ambassador Robert O’Brien, and accepted by Lai’s daughter, Claire Lai.
