Jimmy Lai jailed for 20 years in HK security case
HONG KONG—Jimmy Lai, the prodemocracy former Hong Kong media tycoon and a fierce critic of Beijing, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in one of the most prominent cases under a China-imposed national security law that has virtually silenced the city’s dissent.
Three government-vetted judges spared the 78-year-old Lai the maximum penalty of life imprisonment on charges of conspiring with others to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiracy to publish seditious articles. He was convicted in December. Given his age, the prison term still could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.
Judge Esther Toh said 18 years of Lai’s sentence should be served consecutively to his jail term in his fraud case, for which he received a sentence of five years and nine months. His codefendants, six former employees of his Apple Daily newspaper and two activists, received jail terms between six years and three months and 10 years.
Decline of press freedom
Lai smiled and waved at his supporters when he arrived for the sentence. But before he left the courtroom, he looked serious, as some people in the public gallery cried. When asked about whether they would appeal, his lawyer, Robert Pang, said no comment.
The democracy advocate’s arrest and trial have raised concerns about the decline of press freedom in what was once an Asian bastion of media independence. The government insists the case has nothing to do with a free press, saying the defendants used news reporting as a pretext for years to commit acts that harmed China and Hong Kong.
Lai was one of the first prominent figures to be arrested under the security law in 2020. Within a year, some of Apple Daily’s senior journalists were also arrested and the newspaper shut down in June 2021. The final edition sold a million copies.
‘Consider his release’
Lai’s sentencing could heighten Beijing’s diplomatic tensions with foreign governments. His conviction has drawn criticism from the United States and the United Kingdom.
US President Donald Trump said he felt “so badly” after the verdict and noted he spoke to Chinese leader Xi Jinping about Lai and “asked to consider his release.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has also called for the release of Lai, who is a British citizen.
Before the sentencing, Lai’s daughter Claire told The Associated Press (AP) that she hopes authorities see the wisdom in releasing her father, a Roman Catholic. She said their faith rests in God. “We will never stop fighting until he is free,” she said.
‘Mastermind’
Lai founded Apple Daily, a now-defunct newspaper known for its critical reports against the governments in Hong Kong and Beijing. He was arrested in August 2020 under the security law that was used in a yearslong crackdown on many of Hong Kong’s leading activists.
During his 156-day trial, prosecutors accused him of conspiring with six former Apple Daily staffers, two activists and others to request foreign forces to impose sanctions or blockades or engage in other hostile activities against Hong Kong or China. Lai testified for 52 days in his own defense.
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