Jimmy Lai has just been sentenced to 20 years in jail under the NSL.
Lai was seen smiling calmly and nodding a bit when the court announced his sentence.
Some members of the public were heard sobbing.
Lai’s wife tries to hold back tears as she leaves court
Jimmy Lai’s wife was seen leaving court, wearing dark sunglasses and trying to hold back her tears.
Sentencing ends in under 30 minutes
The sentencing ended, with the judges deciding not to read the whole sentencing remarks, which run 47 pages long.
Other defendants, including six former Apple Daily executives and two activists who were also in court today, have received a sentence ranging from six years and three months to 10 years
Lai’s sentence ‘final nail in coffin’ for freedom of press in Hong Kong – CPJ
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has published a statement condemning Jimmy Lai’s 20-year prison sentence.
“The rule of law has been completely shattered in Hong Kong,” said Jodie Ginsberg, the Committee’s CEO.
“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.”
CPJ called on Hong Kong authorities to stop targeting journalists and release those behind bars, noting that China consistently ranks as the world’s worst jailer of journalists in CPJ’s annual prison census.
At least 51 journalists are currently behind bars in China, including eight in Hong Kong, according to the Comittee.
Harshest punishment meted out under national security law
Lai’s 20-year jail term is the harshest sentence meted out under the National Security Law thus far.
Former legal scholar Benny Tai was jailed for 10 years in November 2024, for subversion under the law. The 60-year-old was convicted of conspiring to subvert state power after initiating an unofficial “primary” for a Legislative Council election.
Court calls Lai’s offences ‘grave’ and ‘premeditated’
The judges have ruled, among other things, that Lai’s offences were “grave” and that the conspiracies were of the “most serious” category.
The foreign collusion conspiracies were “well planned” and “premeditated”, they said, as reported by Reuters news agency.
Jimmy Lai’s son criticises Starmer for not ‘doing enough’ when he met Xi
Jimmy Lai’s son Sebastien had earlier said the UK has not done enough to advocate for his father’s release. His criticism came days after Keir Starmer visited Beijing, making him the first British Prime Minister to do so in eight years.
“If it is so important, then surely there should be some conditionalities put on my father’s release. The trip was a big thing to have been given away,” the younger Lai said at a parliamentary hearing last week on his father’s case, according to The Guardian.
The “values [that the UK stands for] are being locked up along with” his 78-year-old father, Lai said.
The UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Affairs issued a statement following Starmer’s visit, saying that “an opportunity to secure [Jimmy Lai’s] release has been squandered by weak diplomacy”.
“These opportunities will cost Jimmy Lai his life,” the group said.
‘Effectively a death sentence’ for Lai, says Human Rights Watch
This sentence is “effectively a death sentence” for Jimmy Lai, says Human Rights Watch’s Asia director Elaine Pearson.
Lai is 78 and his family has raised concerns over his deteriorating health while imprisoned.
“A sentence of this magnitude is both cruel and profoundly unjust.
“Lai’s years of persecution show the Chinese government’s determination to crush independent journalism and silence anyone who dares to criticize the Communist Party,” Pearson says.
Jimmy Lai’s last interview as a free man
In 2020, Jimmy Lai spoke to the BBC in his home – his last interview as a free man.
“I got everything I have because of this place,” Lai, who was then out on bail, had said.
“If this is payback time, this is my redemption.”
Lai has consistently denied all the charges against him.
Court ‘not inclined’ to reduce sentence over Lai’s health
The court said it was “not inclined” to hand Lai a lower sentence on account of his medical condition.
“We note that the general rule is that medical grounds will seldom, if ever, be a basis for reducing the sentence for crimes of gravity,” it said in the ruling.
Lai’s barrister had said he suffers from hypertension and diabetes, among other ailments.
What is Jimmy Lai getting jailed for?
They comprised two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the National Security Law, and one count of publishing seditious material on the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, which he founded, under a separate colonial-era law.
Lai has already been jailed for fraud and his involvement in unauthorised assemblies in two earlier cases. He has denied all charges against him.
Court documents detail 20-year sentence for Lai’s ‘grave criminal conduct’
A summary document from Monday’s court proceedings lays out the details of Lai’s sentencing.
“Having stepped back and taking a global view of the total sentence for Lai’s serious and grave criminal conduct… we are satisfied that the total sentence for Lai in the present case should be 20 years’ imprisonment,” the court documents said.
Although he was sentenced on three separate counts, collectively carrying prison terms of more than 35 years, Lai will be allowed to serve some of those terms concurrently, the document said, “thus making a total imprisonment term of 20 years”.
Jimmy Lai’s wife leaves court
Jimmy Lai’s wife, Teresa Lai, was seen leaving court following her husband’s sentencing on Monday morning.
Wearing dark glasses, Teresa walked slowly from the courthouse, arm-in-arm with retired bishop Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun.
The 94-year-old, who served as Bishop of Hong Kong between 2002 and 2009, is known for being outspoken on issues of human rights and political freedom. He himself was arrested in 2022 under the national security law – but was later released.
‘A dark day for justice,’ say Lai’s children
Our source received a statement from Lai’s children criticising the “draconian sentence”.
“Today is a dark day for anyone who believes in truth, freedom and justice,” his son Sebastien says. “It signifies the total destruction of the Hong Kong legal system and the end of justice.”
Lai’s daughter Claire described it as a “heartbreakingly cruel” sentence, adding that she has seen her father’s health deteriorate over the last five years.
“If this sentence is carried out, he will die a martyr behind bars,” she says.
Shocked supporters gather outside court
When I spoke to Jimmy Lai in 2020 while he was out on bail he told me that if he ended up imprisoned, he would consider it as a way of “living his life meaningfully”.
I’ve seen letters and drawings from Lai in prison. His family say his mind is strong but his body is breaking down. His daughter told me that there were times he cancelled appointments to see her because he simply wasn’t well enough.
The authorities insist he received adequate care in prison. But his family say he is now effectively facing a death sentence.
On the ground, some supporters say they are shocked by the sentence he has received, given his age.
“You would never think that a man who publishes newspapers would go to jail,” one says.
Summary
- A Hong Kong court jailed pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai for 20 years on Monday after he was found guilty of national security offences last December
- This is the harshest sentence under the controversial national security law, which China says is necessary for the city’s stability
- Lai, who is a British citizen, was one of the loudest critics of Beijing, often wielding his pro-democracy paper, Apple Daily, as a tool of protest
- Six former executives of the paper were also jailed on Monday – from six years and nine months to 10 years
- Hailed a hero by the pro-democracy movement, Lai is seen as a traitor by Beijing. He has always denied the charges against him
- The UK calls for the Chinese government to release Lai, saying it will “rapidly engage further” with Beijing. But Hong Kong’s chief executive welcomes the sentence, saying Lai used “used Apple Daily to poison the minds of citizens”
- Lai’s son, Sebastien, tells the BBC his father’s punishment is “basically a death sentence”
SOURCE: BBC NEWS
