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Briton Jimmy Lai found guilty of national security offences in Hong Kong | World News
Pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai has been found guilty of national security offences in Hong Kong.
The media tycoon and British citizen, 78, was arrested in August 2020 after China imposed a national security law following massive anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
Sky News’ Asia correspondent Helen-Ann Smith, who is at West Kowloon Law Courts Building, said Lai looked “drawn and thin” as he listened to the verdict being delivered.
He had previously been sentenced for several lesser offences during his five years in prison.
Lai, who founded the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security, as well as one count of conspiracy to distribute seditious publications.
He has been found guilty of all three charges and could be sentenced later to life in prison.
Reading from an 855-page verdict, Judge Esther Toh said that the evidence showed Lai had extended “constant invitations” to the US to help bring down the Chinese government and had spent years considering what leverage the US could use.
“There is no doubt that the first defendant had harboured his resentment and hatred of the PRC (People’s Republic of China) for many of his adult years,” Judge Toh said.
She added that the court was satisfied that Lai was the “mastermind” of the conspiracies and that the only reasonable inference from the evidence was that Lai’s intent was to seek the downfall of the ruling Communist Party even at the sacrifice of the people of China and Hong Kong.
Jimmy Lai’s wife Teresa arriving at West Kowloon Law Courts Building. Pic: AP
Lai’s trial, heard by three judges approved by the government without a jury present, has been closely monitored by the UK, the US, the European Union and political observers as a barometer of media freedom and judicial independence in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Responding to the verdict, the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation’s UK and Europe director Mark Sabah said in a statement: “This verdict should surprise absolutely no one. The trial against Jimmy Lai has been a show trial masquerading as justice. But what’s actually been on display is the complete and total destruction of Hong Kong’s reputation as a global legal centre.
People wait to enter the building ahead of the verdict. Pic: AP
“Jimmy Lai is a British citizen. But instead of demanding the release of one of its own, the British government’s response has been years of timid action and kowtowing to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). By abandoning one of its citizens, the British government has sent a clear and shameful message: trade access to the CCP matters more than the rule of law, press freedom, or the safety of British nationals abroad.”
He added: “We now wait for whatever sentence the Hong Kong authorities and the CCP conjure up to bring this five-year charade to an end. But make no mistake, the fight for freedom and justice will go on, not just for Jimmy Lai but for all political prisoners in Hong Kong.”
Lai arriving at court in 2020. Pic: AP
The UK government has not yet commented on the verdict.
However, three months after winning the general election, Sir Keir Starmer said securing Lai’s release was a “priority” for his government and said his government would “continue” to raise the case with China.
Most recently, during a January trip to China, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she raised the question over Lai’s imprisonment with every minister she met.
Solitary confinement
Lai has spent more than 1,800 days in solitary confinement. His family say his health has worsened as a result and that he suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and heart palpitations.
In August, Lai’s son Sebastien told Sky News that unless the British government (of which Mr Lai is a citizen) intervenes, his father “is most likely going to die in jail”.
Sebastien said his father’s death would not just be a personal tragedy, but a huge problem for both the Hong Kong authorities and Beijing’s government.
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“You can’t tell the world you have the rule of law, the free press and all these values that are instrumental to a financial centre and still have my father in jail,” he told Sky News.
“And if he dies, that’s it, that’s a comma on Hong Kong as a financial centre.”
