Hong Kong democracy campaigner, 78, ‘will die in jail’ after 20-year sentence handed

A British citizen and pro-democracy activist has been jailed by a Hong Kong court under China’s controversial national security law.

Jimmy Lai, who ran the Apple Daily newspaper, which was highly critical of Beijing, was found guilty of national security offences last December.

Lai, 78, will spend 20 years behind bars and won’t be eligible for parole until he is in his late 90s.

His son described the sentence as ‘life-threatening’, while his daughter Claire said it was ‘heartbreakingly cruel’.

Lai’s family had voiced concern about his health, saying that he was not receiving adequate healthcare in prison for his diabetes and hypertension.

Claire added: ‘I have watched my father’s health deteriorate dramatically and the conditions he’s kept in go from bad to worse.

‘If this sentence is carried out, he will die a martyr behind bars.’

As the sentence was given, a visibly thin and frail Lai smiled slightly.

Lai was found guilty of two national security charges and a sedition charge.

Lai had already been in jail for more than five years while serving a separate prison term on fraud charges.

Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the conviction is the longest one to date under the national security law.

She added on Monday: ‘A sentence of this magnitude is both cruel and profoundly unjust.’

Today’s ruling said: ‘Having stepped back and taking a global view of the total sentence for Lai’s serious and grave criminal conduct… we are satisfied that the total sentence for Lai in the present case should be 20 years’ imprisonment.’

Chinese officials had spent years casting Lai as the mastermind of anti-government demonstrations that swept Hong Kong in 2019.

Law founded Apple Daily in 1995, quickly becoming a trusted media platform for some of Hong Kong’s most outspoken critics.

Beijing toughened up its national security laws in response to the 2019 protests, one of the most serious challenges to Beijing’s authority in years.

The 2020 law criminalised a broad range of political activity, including collusion with what it called ‘foreign forces.’ The next year, police raided the paper’s offices and seized printing.

Prosecutors accused him of colluding with foreign governments, including the US, to target China with sanctions.

City leader John Lee said today: ‘Lai used Apple Daily to poison the minds of citizens, incite hatred, distort facts, deliberately create social division, glorify violence, and openly beg external forces to sanction China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.’

Lai’s son, Sebastian, previously told Metro that his father had developed rashes in detention.

He said: ‘He’s in this little tiny concrete cell, six foot by ten foot essentially, and he has his window blocked off, he has no windows.

‘During the summer, the heat traps in there. And routinely, Hong Kong would have 33 degrees temperatures, more than 50 days a year, with 100% humidity. So he essentially bakes in his cell.

He added: ‘At his age, in those conditions, it’s no surprise that his health has been so bad.’

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