HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s most prominent media tycoon Jimmy Lai was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in jail on national security charges, including two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one of publishing seditious materials.
The sentence ends Hong Kong’s highest-profile national security trial and a legal saga that has spanned nearly five years.
Lai, founder of the feisty shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, was first arrested in August 2020 and was convicted last year.
Lai’s sentence of 20 years was within the harshest penalty “band” of 10 years to life imprisonment for offences of a “grave nature” and is the most severe punishment meted out yet.
The three national security judges said Lai’s sentence was enhanced by the fact that he was the “mastermind” and driving force behind “persistent” foreign collusion conspiracies.
They cited prosecution evidence that the conspiracies had sought sanctions, blockades and other hostile acts from the U.S. and other countries while involving a web of individuals including Apple Daily staff, activists and foreigners.
Besides Lai, six former senior Apple Daily staffers, an activist and a paralegal were sentenced to jail terms ranging between six and 10 years.
“In the present case, Lai was no doubt the mastermind of all three conspiracies charged and therefore he warrants a heavier sentence,” the judges said.
“As regards the others, it is difficult to distinguish their relative culpability.”
The 78-year-old, a British citizen, has denied all the charges against him, saying in court he is a “political prisoner” facing persecution from Beijing.
Lai’s plight has been criticised by global leaders, opens new tab including U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, spotlighting a years-long national security crackdown in the China-ruled Asian financial hub, following mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Those concerns reflected in part Lai’s long-standing international profile as a pro-democracy critic of China’s Communist Party leadership and his extensive political connections, particularly among U.S. Republicans – ties that prosecutors cited during the case.
At the height of the protests in July 2019, Lai met then-U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington.
“The rule of law has been completely shattered in Hong Kong,” said Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists. “Today’s egregious decision is the final nail in the coffin for freedom of the press in Hong Kong.”
“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 the court on Monday in a white jacket, with hands held together in a praying gesture as he smiled and waved at supporters.
The case has drawn calls for Lai, who 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.”
Beijing and Hong Kong officials have said, however, that Lai has received a fair trial and all are treated equally under a national security law that they say has been vital to restoring order to the city.
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 the case of Lai, who holds British citizenship, during a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping last month in Beijing, according to people briefed on the discussions.
Trump too, raised Lai’s case with Xi during a meeting in October. Several Western diplomats told Reuters that negotiations to free Lai would likely begin in earnest after he is sentenced.
His lawyer, Robert Pang, said he could not comment when asked whether Lai would appeal, saying he has 28 days to do so.
LIFE IN PRISON?
Lai’s family, lawyer, supporters and former colleagues have warned that he could die in prison as he suffers from health conditions including heart palpitations and high blood pressure.
The judges said they were not inclined to give Lai any deduction for his medical condition, age and solitary confinement but acknowledged he would face a “more burdensome” time than other inmates. They cut a month off the sedition sentence and one year each for the collusion charges.
