Hong Kong remains at 140th place on Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) global press freedom index of 180 countries and territories, with the NGO highlighting the 20-year sentence handed down to Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai earlier this year.

The press freedom watchdog released its annual index on Thursday, ahead of World Press Freedom Day on Sunday.

Hong Kong’s position is unchanged from last year. At 140th place, between Rwanda and Syria, the city also remains in the “red zone” – meaning a “very serious” situation.

It has tumbled down press freedom indices since Beijing imposed a national security law in Hong Kong in 2020, in the wake of the pro-democracy protests and unrest that began the summer before.

In 2019, it was at 73rd place. From 2021 to 2022, it fell from 80 to 148, after independent media outlets Apple Daily, Stand News and Citizen News shuttered under authorities’ pressure.

Hong Kong has ranked higher in subsequent years, though RSF has said this was mostly due to changing situations in other places. The city’s press freedom score has fallen consistently, from 41.64 in 2022 to 39.49 this year.

RSF said in a press release that press freedom was at a “25-year low” across the world, with the average score of all countries and territories hitting a record low.

See also: Explainer: The decline of Hong Kong’s press freedom under the national security law

The US fell seven places, and other countries in the Americas, including Ecuador and Peru, also dropped.

Meanwhile, Norway ranks No. 1 for the 10th straight year, followed by the Netherlands, Estonia, Denmark and Sweden.

In Asia, Taiwan is the highest-ranked place at 28. China placed 178th, just after Iran, with North Korea and Eritrea at the bottom of the list.

‘Systemic collapse’

RSF’s Asia Pacific advocacy manager, Aleksandra Bielakowska, told HKFP on Wednesday that Hong Kong had seen a “systemic collapse” in its press freedoms.

The city ranked 18th in 2002, the first year the index was published, she said.

“Hong Kong used to be a stronghold of free press, not only regionally but globally,” Bielakowska said.

She said that in recent years, authorities have been pursuing different ways of dissuading the media from independent reporting, including denying visas to journalists or barring them from entering Hong Kong.

Reporters have also reported being followed by unknown individuals. Most recently, in April, media outlet InMedia said its journalists had received harassing text messages “in recent months” and suspected they were being stalked after work.

When the Hong Kong Journalists Association wrote to the Security Bureau about it, the bureau accused the association of making “groundless speculations” that law enforcement was following reporters.

Aleksandra said this was in line with the authorities’ trend of dismissing claims of harassment of reporters as “rumours.” She said there were “strong indications” that authorities were targeting reporters via “centralised operations.”

Declining press freedom

In a press release published on Thursday, RSF referred to the February jailing of pro-democracy media mogul Lai, the founder of now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily.

The watchdog wrote that “a draconian national security law has allowed the authorities to imprison independent publisher Jimmy Lai, who was recently sentenced to 20 years in prison.”

Lai’s sentence is the longest to be meted out under the national security law so far. He was found guilty in December of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and conspiring to publish seditious materials.

Six former Apple Daily employees were also jailed for up to 10 years, with judges saying they played “affirmative and extensive roles.”

In recent years, there have been reports of journalists being denied visas or entry to Hong Kong. The independent media sector has been targeted by tax audits, while reporters have said they believed they were being followed.

Authorities, however, have maintained that the city continues to enjoy a large degree of press freedom.

After Lai was sentenced, the government said in a statement that it condemned claims that Lai was the victim of “political prosecution.”

“The… case has nothing to do with freedom of the press at all. Over the years, the defendants were using journalism as a guise to commit acts that brought harm to our country and Hong Kong,” the government said.