Hong Kong
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Hong Kong’s former media mogul Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, ending a years-long legal battle that defined Beijing’s transformative crackdown on the once freewheeling financial hub.
The 78-year-old billionaire has become one of the most high-profile critics of the Chinese government since 2020, when it imposed a sweeping national security law on the semi-autonomous southern city.
The landmark trial is likely to spark international calls for the media mogul’s release, with the landmark trial drawing attention from Western leaders including US President Donald Trump, who had previously vowed to “free him” due to his long sentence, which means he will not be eligible for parole until he is in his late 90s.
President Trump is expected to visit China in the coming months to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and many of Mr. Li’s supporters will likely lobby him to take the case against the jailed media mogul.
Lai’s son Sebastian was quick to condemn the sentence, calling it harsh and “life-threatening” for his father. This will be the longest execution under the national security law.
“This is a heartbreakingly cruel sentence,” said Jimmy Lai’s daughter Claire. “I have seen my father’s health deteriorate dramatically and his situation worsen. If this sentence is carried out, he will die a martyr in prison.”
Lai has long been a thorn in China’s side because of his outspokenness against the curtailment of Hong Kong’s freedoms (including to senior U.S. government officials) and his role as founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily, a strongly pro-democracy tabloid.
The Chinese and Hong Kong governments have repeatedly rejected international criticism of Lai’s prosecution and dismissed accusations that his imprisonment was politically motivated or an attack on press freedom. Authorities said Lai was receiving appropriate medical treatment in prison.
He was convicted in December of two counts of national security and sedition after a years-long legal battle.
Lai, who looked visibly slimmer in a white jacket, smiled slightly after hearing Monday’s verdict. Before the court session began, he greeted those sitting in the courtroom audience with folded hands and turned to six former Apple Daily colleagues who were also awaiting sentencing.
These colleagues were also jailed, receiving sentences ranging from six years and nine months to 10 years. Apple Daily and its affiliates were fined HK$6 million ($767,000).
Beijing’s national security law has transformed Hong Kong, with authorities jailing dozens of dissidents. Force the disbandment of civil society organizations and outspoken media outlets. And to neutralize the city’s once-tumultuous political scene.
City and national authorities say the restrictive measures have “restored stability” following large-scale anti-government protests in 2019 that at times turned violent.
Supporters have been lining up outside West Kowloon Court for days since last week to catch a glimpse of Lai.
“He is the flag of Hong Kong,” Chan Chun-yi, 75, told CNN as he arrived outside the court on Thursday. “I didn’t agree with everything he did, but I aligned with his spirit and what he pursued: freedom, democracy, and justice.”
“Mr. Lai and his colleagues deserve the Nobel Peace Prize,” said another supporter, who asked to remain anonymous only to be identified as Andy.
Police increased security outside the court complex, set up a cordon and searched people waiting in line. The judges also warned the public not to disrupt court proceedings or be expelled.
In convicting Mr. Lai in December, three judges handpicked by the Hong Kong government to handle national security cases found that there was “no doubt that[Mr. Lai]harbored anger and hatred towards the People’s Republic of China” and called him the “mastermind of the conspiracy.”
They pointed to Trump’s lobbying of U.S. politicians during his first term, much of which preceded the enactment of the security law, including meetings with White House officials and attempts to meet with Trump himself, as evidence of incitement and collusion with foreign powers.
Mr. Li also used Apple Daily to call for international sanctions against China and Hong Kong, the judges concluded. The United States alone has sanctioned more than a dozen Hong Kong and Chinese officials.
In a press summary of Monday’s ruling, the judges described his actions as a “conspiracy” that was “not only well-planned but premeditated” to reach a national and international audience.
They also concluded that Mr Lai had committed the “most serious category” of sedition, given the number of articles involved and the duration of the offense. Prosecutors previously said Apple Daily published up to 161 inflammatory articles.
Mr. Lai can appeal the verdict and sentence. However, this process often lasts for years and has a low success rate. Only about one in 100 people charged under the national security law are completely acquitted.
The world’s reaction to Lai’s verdict was swift and furious.
The Taiwanese government is “denying the people’s fundamental right to hold those in power accountable.” China’s ruling Communist Party claims democratic and autonomous Taiwan as its own territory, even though it has never ruled it, and has vowed to annex it by force if necessary.
Human rights group Amnesty International condemned it as a “callous attack on freedom of expression”. Meanwhile, Lai’s son Sebastian Lai said this would mean “the complete destruction of Hong Kong’s legal system and the end of justice.”
International relations experts said Lai’s fight for freedom could spill over into the diplomatic field.
Mr Lai, a British passport holder and Catholic, has been a vocal voice in both Britain and the US calling for his release. The latter has vocal support from many on the Christian right.
President Trump has repeatedly promised to secure Lai’s release.
President Trump said in August that he had issued a “request” to Chinese leader Xi Jinping asking him to consider releasing Lai.
Lai’s treatment could mark a new crossroads for the world’s two largest economies, which are already at loggerheads over issues ranging from trade to Taiwan.
“Mr. Trump is likely to raise the level again in negotiations with Mr. Xi,” said Hung Ho-fung, a professor in the Department of Political Science and Economics at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.
“He (Lai) is a British national and a symbol of the democracy movement in Greater China. Just raising this issue with the Chinese government would be good news.”
Meanwhile, the Chinese government may consider Mr Lai a “useful bargaining chip” given his deteriorating health.
“If the Chinese government can finally force Washington to compromise on trade, technology and even Taiwan by granting Lai’s compassionate release on health grounds, that would be a good deal,” he said.
“It’s better than letting him die in prison and become another martyr,” Ho added.
Mr Lai’s daughter Claire has received support from US politicians, including Democratic former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, while Mr Lai’s son Sebastian has appealed to the British government for support.
Many Western governments and human rights groups have also condemned Lai’s prosecution and called for his release.
In response to Lai’s ruling last year, the High Representative of the European Union and the foreign ministers of the G7 countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, said in a joint statement that they “continue to express concern about the deterioration of Hong Kong’s rights, freedoms and autonomy.”
Hong Kong’s government spokesperson hit back, saying Western leaders “wanderlessly smear” Hong Kong authorities and “continue to unscrupulously distort the facts.”
“What these countries have done in this case is a stark reflection of past bullying behavior and is extremely ugly and despicable,” they said.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Hong Kong office expressed “strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition” and accused countries of interfering in China’s internal affairs.
The story of Rai’s life, in many ways, follows that of the city whose cause he came to embrace.
Born in mainland China, Lai came to Hong Kong under British rule at the age of 12. He was just one of millions of mainlanders who fled communist China and moved to the free-spirited business hub.
He rose from factory worker to wealthy clothing tycoon before turning to media, founding Apple Daily in 1995, two years before Hong Kong was handed over to China.
The outspoken publisher and its newspaper were at the forefront of the city’s pro-democracy movement at a time when press freedom was far greater.
The paper printed its final edition in June 2021 after police raided its offices and froze its assets. After that, many former Apple Daily reporters left Hong Kong.
According to Reporters Without Borders, the city’s press freedom ranking has fallen sharply from 80th out of 180 countries in 2021 to 140th last year. Hong Kong was once ranked 18th in 2002.
A Hong Kong government spokesperson said Lai’s case had “nothing to do with press freedom.”
Eric Lai (no relation to Jimmy Lai), a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Asian Law Center, said a trusted financial hub requires a free flow of information to protect a transparent investment environment.
“Access to information and the free exchange of ideas and opinions are severely jeopardized, with important news outlets shut down and criminalized, and open exchange with foreign officials and policymakers on important policy issues considered a criminal act,” he said.
“It has nothing to do with freedom of the press, because they prioritize the need to protect the security of the regime over the freedom to express sharp criticism,” Eric Lai said.
