Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai sentenced to total of 20 years in national security trial

2026-02-09 - 02:26

HONG KONG — Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai was sentenced on Monday to a total of 20 years in jail on three charges comprising two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of publishing seditious materials. The trial has been the financial hub’s most high-profile national security case. The sentence comes after a legal saga spanning almost five years. Lai, the founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, was convicted on December 15 on all three counts. He was first arrested in August 2020. Lai’s plight has been criticized by global leaders including US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, spotlighting a years-long national security crackdown in the China-ruled Asian financial hub, following mass pro-democracy protests in 2019. The 78-year-old has denied all the charges against him, saying in court he is a “political prisoner” facing persecution from Beijing. Dozens of Lai’s supporters queued for several days to secure a spot in the courtroom, with scores of police officers, sniffer dogs, and police vehicles including an armoured truck and a bomb disposal van deployed around the area. “I feel that Mr. Lai is the conscience of Hong Kong,” said a man named Sum, 64, who started queueing last Thursday. “He speaks up for Hong Kong people, and even for many wrongful cases in mainland China and for the development of democracy. So I feel that spending a few days of my own freedom sleeping out here is better than seeing him locked up inside.” Starmer raised the case of Lai, who holds British citizenship, in detail during a tête-à-tête with Chinese leader Xi Jinping last month in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, according to people briefed on the discussions. Britain’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, and China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, were also present. “I raised the case of Jimmy Lai and called for his release,” Starmer told the UK parliament after his trip. Trump too, raised Lai’s case with Xi during a meeting last October. Several Western diplomats told Reuters that negotiations to free Lai would likely begin in earnest after he is sentenced, and depending on whether Lai will appeal. Lai’s family, lawyer, supporters and former colleagues have warned that he could die in prison as he suffers from health conditions including heart palpitations and high blood pressure. Sentencing guidelines under the national security law (NSL) stipulate that Lai, who was deemed a “mastermind” of a conspiracy to engage with foreign activists, politicians and others to solicit foreign sanctions against Hong Kong and China, could come under the most severe penalty “band” of 10 years to life imprisonment for offences of a “grave nature.” “Jimmy Lai’s trial has been nothing but a charade from the start and shows total contempt for Hong Kong laws that are supposed to protect press freedom,” said the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Asia-Pacific Director Beh Lih Yi. Beijing, however, says Lai has received a fair trial and all are treated equally under the national security law that has restored order to the city. – Rappler.com