Catholic businessman Jimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years in prison in Hong Kong

- Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News

A Hong Kong court sentenced Catholic media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison on February 9 after finding him guilty of conspiring with foreign forces to endanger national security. 

It is believed to be the harshest sentence imposed under China's so-called national security law, which criminalizes secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. 

Law used to silence dissent

The law has been criticized for its vagueness and its use to silence dissent, limit press freedom and prosecute opposition figures, such as Lai, who was convicted of sedition and two counts of conspiracy to reach agreements with foreign forces on December 15.

“Today is another dark day for justice,» Lai's family said in a statement released shortly after the sentence was handed down.

“Sentencing my father to this draconian prison sentence is devastating to our family and endangers his life,” said Lai's son Sebastian. “It means the total destruction of Hong Kong's legal system and the end of justice. After more than five years of relentless persecution of my father, it is time for China to do the right thing and release him before it is too late.”.

‘A heartbreakingly cruel sentence’

Lai's daughter Claire called the 20-year prison sentence «a heartbreakingly cruel sentence.».

I have seen my father's health deteriorate drastically and the conditions in which he is being held get worse and worse. If this sentence is carried out, he will die a martyr's death behind bars, he said.

Lai, a British citizen who founded the now defunct pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, campaigned in Hong Kong for press freedom and free speech for decades. Hong Kong was designated a Special Administrative Region of China in 1997, when British rule ended after more than 150 years. 

“High degree of autonomy” 

Hong Kong's Basic Law would supposedly allow the region to “exercise a high degree of autonomy and enjoy independent executive, legislative and judicial power, including final decision-making.”.

However, after a year of pro-democracy protests in 2019, China imposed the national security law, under which Lai was arrested in August 2020 and has been imprisoned since December 2020. 

Following the sentencing, UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the 20-year prison term was “a life sentence in practice.” And she called his conviction “a politically motivated prosecution under a law that was imposed to silence China's critics.”.

An appeal to the Hong Kong authorities

“I once again call on the Hong Kong authorities to put an end to this ordeal and release him on humanitarian grounds, so that he can be reunited with his family,” Cooper wrote Feb. 9 in a statement posted on X.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who visited China from January 28-31, was criticized for not doing enough to secure Lai's release. According to BBC News, the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Issues issued a statement saying that the failure to secure the release of the British businessman had been “wasted by weak diplomacy.”.

“These opportunities will cost Jimmy Lai his life,” the statement said. 

Starmer raised Lai's case with Xi

However, Cooper said Starmer had raised Lai's case “directly with (Chinese President Xi Jinping) during his visit,” which had “opened up a discussion about our most acute concerns directly with the Chinese government at the highest level.”.

“Following today's ruling, we will quickly address Mr. Lai's case further,” he said. 

The sentence was also condemned by Amnesty International, calling it “another grim milestone in Hong Kong's transformation from a city governed by the rule of law to one governed by fear”. 

“With this sentence, we see once again how Hong Kong's National Security Law is being used to distort fundamental freedoms into criminal acts,” the human rights organization stated. “The imprisonment of Jimmy Lai is a vicious attack on freedom of expression that exemplifies the systematic dismantling of the rights that once defined Hong Kong.”.

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Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News. Follow him at @jae_journalist.

This information has been published in OSV News, and can be viewed at here.

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