September 21, 2021 | 6 p.m. ET

Join us tonight for the 33rd annual Liberty Medal honoring two freedom fighters: Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai and Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul for their courage and conviction in exercising the fundamental rights of freedom of speech, nonviolent resistance, and peaceful dissent. 

Video will be available for playback via the same link.

Jimmy Lai is one of the most prominent supporters of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. His media company, Next Digital, founded Apple Daily, a widely-read tabloid frequently critical of the Hong Kong government and the Chinese Communist Party. The paper closed in June 2021 following a raid by Hong Kong police. Lai’s arrest for sedition in August 2020 on charges of violating Hong Kong’s new national security law, and subsequent trial and sentencing, arose out of the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.  

Loujain al-Hathloul, one of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent women’s rights activists, was held for nearly three years in a Saudi prison for leading the campaign to legalize driving for women in Saudi Arabia. She was detained in May 2018 along with several other female activists, just weeks before the Saudi government lifted the ban. A judge sentenced her to five years and eight months in prison under a broad counterterrorism law; she was released early, in February 2021, but remains under many restrictions. She has appealed her conviction.

Thank you to our partners at

for making this night possible, as well as the Liberty Medal's major underwriters: