Hong Kong’s most prominent media tycoon, Jimmy Lai, was sentenced on Monday to a total of 20 years in jail on national security charges comprising two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of publishing seditious materials.
The sentence ends a legal saga spanning almost five years and marks Hong Kong’s most high-profile national security hearing. Lai, the founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, was first arrested in August 2020 and convicted last year.
Lai’s 20-year sentence falls within the most severe penalty “band” of 10 years to life imprisonment for offences deemed to be of a “grave nature”.
The Hong Kong court said Lai’s sentence was enhanced by the fact that he was the “mastermind” and driving force behind the foreign collusion conspiracies. The 78-year-old, a British citizen, has denied all charges, telling the court that he is a “political prisoner” facing persecution from Beijing.
Lai’s plight has been criticised by global leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, shining a spotlight on the years-long national security crackdown in the China-ruled Asian financial hub following the mass pro-democracy protests of 2019.
“The rule of law has been completely shattered in Hong Kong. Today’s egregious decision is the final nail in the coffin for freedom of the press in Hong Kong,” said Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
“The international community must step up its pressure to free Jimmy Lai if we want press freedom to be respected anywhere in the world.”
Lai arrived at court wearing a white jacket, his hands held together in a praying gesture, as he smiled and waved at supporters.
The case has drawn calls for Lai — a long-standing critic of the Chinese Communist Party whom friends and supporters say is in frail health — to be freed.
“The harsh 20-year sentence against 78-year-old Jimmy Lai is effectively a death sentence,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia Director of Human Rights Watch. “A sentence of this magnitude is both cruel and profoundly unjust.”
Dozens of Lai’s supporters queued for several days to secure a spot in the courtroom, with scores of police officers, sniffer dogs and police vehicles — including an armoured truck and a bomb disposal van — deployed around the area.
“I feel that Mr. Lai is the conscience of Hong Kong,” said a man named Sum, 64, who was in the queue.
“He speaks up for Hong Kong people, and even for many wrongful cases in mainland China and for the development of democracy. So I feel that spending a few days of my own freedom sleeping out here is better than seeing him locked up inside.”
Starmer raised Lai’s case — as a British citizen — in detail during a tête-à-tête with Chinese leader Xi Jinping last month at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, according to people briefed on the discussions. Britain’s National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi were also present.
(Reuters)
