Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong pro-democracy figure, sentenced to 20 years in prison for national security offences

Original article by Amy Hawkins Senior China correspondent

Jimmy Lai, the media mogul and prominent pro-democracy activist, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Hong Kong for national security offences, a punishment his daughter said could mean “he will die a martyr behind bars”.

Claire Lai said the sentence was “heartbreakingly cruel” given her 78-year-old father’s declining health, while her brother Sebastien Lai called the sentence “draconian” and “devastating”.

The sentencing is the culmination of a years-long saga that critics say represents Hong Kong’s transformation from a mostly free city to one where dissent is fiercely suppressed by the Chinese Communist party-controlled authorities.

Lai was convicted in December on charges of sedition and conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. He had pleaded not guilty to all charges. The collusion convictions carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Lai’s 20-year sentence is the harshest penalty handed down for national security offences in Hong Kong.

The sentence was condemned immediately by Taiwan, as well as press freedom and human rights groups.

Reporters Without Borders said: “Today, the curtain falls on press freedom in Hong Kong … This court decision underscores the complete collapse of press freedom in Hong Kong and the authorities’ profound contempt for independent journalism.”

Human Rights Watch said the length of jail time given to Lai was “effectively a death sentence”.

“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 criticise the Communist party,” the statement said.

Amnesty International called the case “another grim milestone in Hong Kong’s transformation from a city governed by the rule of law to one ruled by fear”.

Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee, said on Monday the sentencing of Lai was “deeply gratifying”. “Jimmy Lai’s crimes are heinous and evil in the extreme. His heavy sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment demonstrates the rule of law, upholds justice and is deeply gratifying,” he said.

Steve Li, the chief superintendent of the police national security department, said the sentence was “appropriate” and alleged that claims about Lai’s frail health were “exaggerated”.

Beijing’s foreign affairs spokesperson Lin Jian said the sentence was “legitimate” and “reasonable”. Li said: “Hong Kong is a society governed by the rule of law … there is no room for argument.”

Lai’s prosecution has been described as politically motivated by human rights groups and the British government, which has called for his release.

The UK foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: “For the 78-year-old, this is tantamount to a life sentence”. Cooper called for Lai to be released from his “appalling ordeal” on humanitarian grounds.

“The prime minister raised Mr Lai’s case directly with President Xi during his visit. That has opened up discussion of our most acute concerns directly with the Chinese government, at the highest levels,” said Cooper. “Following today’s sentencing we will rapidly engage further on Mr Lai’s case.”

On Friday, Chinese state media described Lai, a British citizen who has lived in Hong Kong since he fled China as a child refugee, as an “anti-government instigator and traitor”.

Lai is the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily, a popular Hong Kong newspaper that supported the pro-democracy movement that swelled in the city in the 2010s.

The movement was crushed in June 2020 by the imposition of a harsh national security law that criminalised most forms of dissent. The authorities said the law was necessary to restore stability to the city. Lai was arrested and charged under that law in August that year. Apple Daily was forced to close in 2021.

Keir Starmer said that he raised Lai’s case when he met China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in Beijing in January. But it is not clear what, if any, progress the UK has made towards securing Lai’s release. Sebastien Lai said recently that the UK government had not done enough for his father and that “time is running out”.

The US president, Donald Trump, has also said that he would secure Lai’s release.

The chair of the US select committee on China, John Moolenaar, said: “President Trump made it abundantly clear to General Secretary Xi in October that Lai should be freed and allowed to leave Hong Kong to be with his family … If General Secretary Xi wants to improve his relationship with the United States, freeing Jimmy Lai is where he needs to start.”

Lai’s supporters hope that negotiations can now start in earnest for him to be released on health grounds.

There are increasing concerns about Lai’s health and wellbeing in prison. His family said he had suffered dramatic weight loss and that his teeth had rotted. He has been behind bars since December 2020, mostly in solitary confinement. Hong Kong authorities say Lai has received appropriate medical care and that he requested to be kept separate from other prisoners.

Lai was sentenced along with eight other co-defendants – two activists and six former executives from Lai’s media company – in the landmark national security trial, all of whom pleaded guilty. They were handed sentences ranging from six years and three months to 10 years.

Mark Clifford, the president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong and author of a biography of Lai titled The Troublemaker, said: “The heavy sentences meted out not only to Lai but to his six Apple Daily colleagues underscore China’s lack of concern about Hong Kong’s rule of law ... The British government needs to redouble its efforts to free Lai on humanitarian grounds.”

Clifford is a former executive in Lai’s media company and was referenced several times in the ruling against Lai.

Lai’s trial was presided over by three judges handpicked by the government to hear national security cases. In their 855-page judgment convicting him, the judges said Lai was “a very savvy business man” and that it was “unfortunate that his deep resentment and hatred for the Chinese Communist party … led him down a thorny path”.

Lai was accused of using Apple Daily and political connections, particularly in the US, to lobby for foreign governments to impose sanctions on China and Hong Kong after the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2019 and 2020.

Lai said he never called for sanctions after the national security law had taken effect, as “it would be suicidal to do so”.

Additional reporting by Geneva Abdul