Democracy advocate Jimmy Lai leaves the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal in February, 2021.Kin Cheung/The Associated Press
Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy former Hong Kong media tycoon and fierce critic of Beijing, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Monday, after being convicted on national security charges late last year.
Mr. Lai, founder of the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, was a long-standing critic of China and backer of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. He was arrested in 2020 during a crackdown that followed months of anti-government protests the year before, and charged under a national security law imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing. Mr. Lai was accused of sedition and colluding with foreign forces to undermine Chinese rule in the territory.
Judge Esther Toh said 18 years of Mr. Lai’s sentence should be served consecutively to his jail term in his separate fraud case, for which he received a term of five years and nine months. Mr. Lai can appeal his case. His co-defendants received jail terms between 6 years and 3 months and 10 years.
On Dec. 15, a panel of three judges, handpicked by Hong Kong leader John Lee to oversee sensitive national security cases, found Mr. Lai guilty. They ruled there was “indisputable evidence” he had conspired with foreign actors to undermine the Chinese and Hong Kong governments, based on a lifelong “resentment and hatred” of the Communist regime in Beijing.
The Associated Press
Monday’s sentencing makes it almost certain Mr. Lai will die in prison unless he receives compassionate release, which the 78-year-old’s family have said they will lobby for.
“This sentencing marks another grim milestone in Hong Kong’s transformation from a city governed by the rule of law to one ruled by fear. Imprisoning a 78-year-old man for doing nothing more than exercising his rights shows a complete disregard for human dignity,” said Amnesty International’s deputy regional director, Sarah Brooks.
The sentence was harsher even than many supporters of Mr. Lai had expected.
He faced up to life in prison, and his family had warned that even a far shorter sentence could result in him dying behind bars, given his age.
After Mr. Lai was convicted in December, China’s Office for Safeguarding National Security described him as the “ringleader of the anti-China and pro-chaos movement” of 2019 and “mastermind” of an attempted “colour revolution” against the Chinese government.
“The people of China, including compatriots in Hong Kong, are filled with righteous indignation and strongly demand that he be severely punished according to the law,” it said in a statement.
Mr. Lai’s lawyers had argued for a reduced sentence based on his health and age: the former publisher suffers from diabetes, heart palpitations and has had trouble with his sight and hearing, among other issues.
The guilty verdict against Mr. Lai was widely denounced by human rights advocates, press groups and foreign governments.
The G7, which includes Canada, issued a statement in December condemning the verdict, which it said was emblematic of “deteriorating rights, freedoms and autonomy in Hong Kong,” and calling for Mr. Lai’s immediate release.
A panel of United Nations human rights experts also criticized Mr. Lai’s prosecution and called for him to be freed.
“There have been serious due process failures of the trial, including allegations that at least one prosecution-turned witness was tortured in China, and such evidence was neither investigated nor excluded,” the experts said.
“This conviction represents a direct assault on freedom of expression and media freedom and is deliberately aimed at deepening the chilling effect on civil society. It targets the courageous members of Hong Kong’s civil society – independent journalists and human rights defenders, whose only ‘offence’ is seeking to express their views freely, something that should never be treated as a crime."
With a report from the Associated Press