The Hong Kong court has sentenced anti-China media figure Jimmy Lai, who was indicted for violating the National Security Law, to 20 years in prison. This is the heaviest sentence imposed since China enforced the Hong Kong National Security Law.
Jimmy Lai, the former owner of Apple Daily, entered the courthouse in September 2021. Reuters, Yonhap News
According to major foreign media outlets including Bloomberg News, the West Kowloon Court on the morning of the 9th (local time) found Jimmy Lai, who has supported the pro-democracy movement, guilty on all three counts, including collusion with foreign forces and incitement, and handed down this sentence.
The court determined that during the 2019 Hong Kong protests, he used his international connections and, together with the anti-China campaign group SWHK (Chong Guang Tuan Dui, “Stand with Hong Kong, Fight for Freedom”), actively lobbied multiple countries to impose sanctions on the Chinese and Hong Kong governments and officials. It also ruled that his acts of inciting street protests and confrontation against the government through the anti-China newspaper Apple Daily violated the National Security Law.
Jimmy Lai, the founder and former owner of Apple Daily, was arrested and indicted in December 2020 on charges including violating the Hong Kong National Security Law by colluding with foreign forces and publishing seditious materials.
In December last year, the Hong Kong court found Jimmy Lai guilty on all three charges, including collusion with foreign forces and the publication of seditious materials.
Given that Jimmy Lai is 78 years old this year, Bloomberg News reported that the sentence is effectively being regarded as life imprisonment. It far exceeds the 10-year prison term previously handed down to Benny Tai. It is being compared to the case of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for calling for democratic reform in China and died behind bars, and is provoking international outrage.
Western countries find themselves needing to press for Jimmy Lai's release even as they seek to improve relations with China. U.S. President Donald Trump previously appealed to Chinese President Xi Jinping for Lai's release, and the issue could be placed on the agenda during his planned visit to Beijing in April. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer directly raised the issue of Jimmy Lai's imprisonment during his visit to Beijing last month. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also visited China last month and criticized the prosecution as being politically motivated.
The Chinese and Hong Kong authorities maintain that the trial was conducted fairly and that they will not tolerate any interference from external forces.
After large-scale anti-government protests erupted in Hong Kong in 2019, China enacted and enforced the Hong Kong National Security Law in June 2020 to bring the situation under tight control. The law stipulates that up to life imprisonment can be imposed for four types of crimes: secession, subversion, terrorist activities, and collusion with foreign forces.
Jimmy Lai, who stowed away from mainland China to Hong Kong at the age of 12 and rose from humble beginnings, founded Apple Daily in 1995 and has supported Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement. Arrested in 2020 on suspicion of violating the National Security Law, he has been held in solitary confinement for the fifth consecutive year and has denied all charges throughout the trial.
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