Jimmy Lai has been detained for more than five years. In January, lawyer Robert Pang said the former owner of Apple Daily suffered from health problems including heart palpitations
Jimmy Lai, a former pro-democracy Hong Kong press tycoon and critic of Beijing, was sentenced to 20 years in prison under a Chinese-imposed national security law that silenced dissent in the city.
Three judges approved by the Hong Kong Government spared Lai, a British citizen, now 78, from the maximum sentence of life imprisonment for conspiracy and collusion with foreign forces, threatening national security, and for conspiring to publish seditious articles. Jimmy Lai had been convicted in December and was sentenced today.
Given his age, the prison sentence could keep the former tycoon behind bars for the rest of his life.
Judge Esther Toh declared that 18 years of Jimmy Lai’s sentence must be served consecutively to the prison sentence in the fraud case, for which he received a sentence of five years and nine months and which he is currently serving.
Jimmy Lai’s co-defendants in this trial, six former employees of the Apple Daily newspaper – now defunct – and two activists, received prison sentences of between six years and three months and 10 years.
Jimmy Lai smiled and waved to supporters when he arrived at court this morning, where he left with a serious face, while some people in the public gallery cried. Asked whether he would appeal, the former tycoon’s lawyer, Robert Pang, said he had no comment.
Jimmy Lai’s arrest and trial have raised concerns about the decline of press freedom in China’s special administrative region, once an Asian bastion of media independence.
The Hong Kong Government insists that the case has nothing to do with press freedom, saying that the defendants used journalistic activity 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 less than a year, some of Apple Daily’s senior journalists were also arrested and the newspaper closed in June 2021. The final edition sold one million copies.
Lai’s sentence could increase Beijing’s diplomatic tensions with foreign governments, given that the conviction had already drawn criticism from the United States and the United Kingdom.
Following the verdict in December, US President Donald Trump revealed that he had asked his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to consider releasing Jimmy Lai, and stated that he felt “very bad” about the conviction.
“I feel very bad,” Trump told reporters at the time. “I spoke to President Xi about this and asked him to consider his release,” he revealed.
The United Kingdom also called for the 78-year-old tycoon to be “released immediately”, with the head of British diplomacy, Yvette Cooper, condemning the decision, considering it a “persecution for political reasons”.
During the 156-day trial, prosecutors accused Jimmy Lai of conspiring with six former Apple Daily employees, two activists and others to request foreign forces to impose sanctions or blockades or engage in hostile activities against Hong Kong or China.
Lai testified for 52 days in his own defense, arguing that he had not called for foreign sanctions after the introduction of the law under which he was charged, tried and convicted.
In December, judges concluded that Lai was the mastermind of the conspiracies and that he had never wavered in his intention to destabilize the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
Lai has been detained for more than five years. In January, lawyer Robert Pang said the former Apple Daily owner suffered from health problems, including heart palpitations.
