India, Feb. 11 -- Nearly five years after Hong Kong's pro-democracy Apple Daily shut down, its founder, Jimmy Lai, is jailed, the newspaper's former staff and readers are lamenting the loss of the city's press freedoms. Lai, 78, was sentenced Monday under a Beijing-imposed national security law to 20 years in prison, the longest such sentence so far. His co-defendants, six other former Apple Daily journalists, received jail terms ranging between six years and nine months and 10 years.

Officials in both Hong Kong and Beijing defended the case against Lai, with the city's leader, John Lee, accusing the newspaper of inciting violence and poisoning young minds. The government insisted his case had nothing to do with press freedom, saying the...