The Hong Kong government has condemned attempts by anti-China forces and foreign media to sugarcoat the criminal acts of jailed former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, while defending the city’s press freedom after the release of a global index.

Authorities issued a strongly-worded statement in the early hours of Friday, slamming the attempts to slander, smear and attack the city “by releasing a so-called press freedom index”, saying that “such despicable behaviours totally disregarded the rule of law and twisted the facts”.

“Some media organisations and organisations that claim to represent journalists have conflated the criminal acts in the Lai Chee-Ying case with freedom of the press,” a government spokesman said.

“[They] have even played up different cases to vilify the [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region], with the purpose of misleading the public and defaming [the city’s] human rights and rule of law.”

Hong Kong ranked 140th out of 180 countries and regions in the latest World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders on Thursday.

“In Hong Kong [140th], a draconian national security law has allowed the authorities to imprison independent publisher Jimmy Lai, who was recently sentenced to 20 years in prison, the heaviest ever imposed on a journalist in the territory,” the organisation said.

The city ranked 140th in the 2025 index and 135th in the 2024 edition.