Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai was sentenced on Sunday to 20 years in prison, the harshest penalty ever imposed under the territory's national security law. The 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper was convicted in December 2024 of conspiring to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiring to publish seditious articles. Three government-appointed judges described Lai as the mastermind of a conspiracy to lobby foreign governments for sanctions against China and Hong Kong, issuing an 855-page verdict in what has become the most high-profile prosecution under the sweeping legislation.
The court ordered that 18 years of the sentence be served consecutively with a separate fraud conviction from 2022 that carried a five-year and nine-month prison term. Lai, a British citizen who escaped mainland China at the age of 12, has been in custody for more than five years, much of it spent in solitary confinement. His family has expressed fears that the sentence amounts to a life term given his age. Eight co-defendants, including six former Apple Daily journalists and two pro-democracy activists, received sentences ranging from six years and three months to 10 years. All except Lai had pleaded guilty, and several testified against him during the trial.
The prosecution centred on Lai's meetings with senior United States officials in 2019, including then-Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and National Security Adviser John Bolton, as well as his contacts with members of Congress. Prosecutors argued that Lai had used Apple Daily as a platform to incite hatred against the Chinese and Hong Kong governments and to solicit foreign intervention. The newspaper, once one of the most widely read publications in the territory, was forced to close in June 2021 after authorities froze its assets under the national security law.
The sentencing drew swift international condemnation. British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called the 20-year term tantamount to a life sentence and demanded Lai's release on humanitarian grounds, pledging to engage further with Beijing. United States President Donald Trump, who is expected to visit China in April, stated that he felt deeply troubled by the outcome and had previously asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to consider releasing Lai. Human Rights Watch described the punishment as effectively a death sentence, while Amnesty International called it another grim milestone in Hong Kong's transformation from a city governed by the rule of law to one ruled by fear.
Hong Kong leader John Lee defended the verdict, stating that Lai had used Apple Daily to poison the minds of the city's residents. China's foreign ministry declared the punishment legitimate and reasonable. Lai's son Sebastien expressed hope that China might release his father before Trump's scheduled April visit as a diplomatic gesture. The case has underscored the dramatic decline in press freedom in Hong Kong, which has fallen from 18th to 140th place in the World Press Freedom Index since 2002. Lai retains the right to appeal his conviction and sentence.
Comments