Jimmy Lai trial latest: 20-year jail term for Hong Kong media mogul condemned as ‘effectively a death sentence’

Hong Kong’s national security police head has said that authorities are “still investigating some matters” after pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Steve Li welcomed the court’s “imposition of a heavy sentence” on Lai, “demonstrating the court’s determination that his offence [was] of a very serious… nature.”

“Obviously, he has done nothing good for Hong Kong that could serve as a basis for his mitigation,” Li told reporters.

When asked if sentencing marked the end of prosecutions against Lai, Apple Daily, and related entities, Li said “we are still investigating some matters,” but he was not at liberty to disclose the investigations.

Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong has joined the chorus of condemnation over Jimmy Lai’s sentencing.

“The Australian Government is gravely concerned by the sentences handed down to Jimmy Lai and his co-defendants in Hong Kong today,” she said.

“We continue to call on China to cease suppression of freedoms of expression, assembly, media and civil society, consistent with UN Human Rights Committee recommendations, and to call for the repeal of the National Security Law in Hong Kong.”

The Hong Kong Journalists Association has not issued a statement yet on Jimmy Lai's sentencing.

When contacted by The Independent, its chair Selina Cheng says: “I’m unable to speak freely about the Apple Daily sentencing.”

Caolfhionn Gallagher, lead counsel on Jimmy Lai’s international legal team, said today marks the final blow to the rule of law in Hong Kong.

“Sentencing Jimmy Lai, already 78, to two decades behind bars is an affront to justice and the culmination of over five years of malicious lawfare against a courageous, elderly British citizen and prisoner of conscience,” he said.

“Now that this sham trial is finally over, we call on leaders around the world to speak with one voice in demanding that China free Jimmy Lai.”

Jimmy Lai’s son Sebastien Lai has said the 20-year sentence is “basically a death sentence”, given his health conditions.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “For that heroism, he's being punished, he's essentially getting a death sentence for that”.

"Surely a man who has given so much for liberty, for freedom, deserves a bit of it himself."

Amnesty International has become the latest to condemn Jimmy Lai’s sentencing this morning.

“This sentencing marks another grim milestone in Hong Kong’s transformation from a city governed by the rule of law to one ruled by fear. Imprisoning a 78-year-old man for doing nothing more than exercising his rights shows a complete disregard for human dignity. Every day he spends in behind bars is a grave injustice,” deputy regional director Sarah Brooks said.

“With this ruling we see yet again how Hong Kong’s National Security Law is being used to distort fundamental freedoms into criminal acts. Jimmy Lai’s imprisonment is a cold-blooded attack of freedom of expression that epitomizes the systematic dismantling of rights that once defined Hong Kong.

“Jimmy Lai is a prisoner of conscience who should never have spent a single day behind bars. The Hong Kong authorities must immediately and unconditionally release him.”

Dozens of Lai’s supporters camped outside the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts to secure a seat starting early in the night.

Police vans, armoured vehicles, and sniffer dogs maintained a heavy presence around the court.

Teresa Lai, Jimmy’s wife, and retired Cardinal Joseph Zen were seen entering the court. She appeared visibly distressed as they left after the sentencing concluded.

The European Union called for the immediate release of Jimmy Lai as it condemned the sentencing as political prosecution.

“The politically motivated prosecution of Jimmy Lai and the former Apple Daily executives and journalists harms Hong Kong’s reputation,” the EU’s foreign policy department said in a statement.

“The EU calls on Hong Kong authorities to restore confidence in press freedom – one of the pillars of the city’s historic success as an international financial centre – and to stop prosecuting journalists.”

The Japanese government said it is "seriously concerned" about the potential impact of the 20-year prison sentence handed to Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai on the city’s freedom of speech, top government spokesperson Minoru Kihara said today.

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media mogul Jimmy Lai was being heralded by supporters as the city’s “conscience” on Monday after he was sentenced to 20 years in prison on national security charges.

Once a penniless teenage refugee who arrived in Hong Kong as a stowaway, Mr Lai rose to become one of the city’s most influential media tycoons has now become its most prominent political prisoner.

Mr Lai, 78, has been handed the longest sentence so far under Hong Kong's controversial national security laws, which were introduced in 2020 following a period of city-wide protests.