Jimmy Lai trial live updates: Hong Kong court to sentence media mogul after national security conviction

A statement released by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) said Jimmy Lai’s case has come to symbolise the dismantling of Hong Kong’s freedoms.

The statement, signed by 86 politicians, including US Senator Jeff Merkley and Lord Alton of Liverpool, said:

“This moment did not arise in isolation. It has been made possible by the sustained failure of the international community to enforce the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a binding international treaty registered at the United Nations. As Beijing dismantled Hong Kong’s autonomy, free press and rule of law, governments spoke out, but failed to act.

“The imposition of a 20-year sentence on a 78-year-old publisher for peaceful political expression is not justice. It is punishment for dissent, enabled by impunity.

“IPAC calls on democratic governments to respond accordingly through coordinated diplomatic pressure, and accountability.

“Jimmy Lai’s persecution serves as irrefutable proof that Hong Kong’s legal system answers to Beijing, and must not be afforded any status to distinguish it from China.”

A supporter of Jimmy Lai queued outside the court for days and slept there overnight in order to keep his place in the queue, finally securing a seat in the courtroom.

“I feel that Lai is the conscience of Hong Kong,” said the man named Sum, 64, on the day of sentencing.

“He speaks up for the people of Hong Kong, and also for many wrongful cases in mainland China and for the development of democracy. Spending a few days of my own freedom sleeping out here feels better than seeing him locked up inside.”

Steve Li, the head of Hong Kong police’s National Security Department, welcomed the media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s 20-year sentence on three national security charges, saying it was “appropriate”.

He said the claims about his frail health are “exaggerated”.

He added that the police would be in contact with the Department of Justice to consider whether the authorities wanted to seek longer sentences through appeals.

He added Li that “we are still investigating some matters”, but he does not have the liberty to disclose what those investigations were.

Jimmy Lai, 78, would be 96 years old by the time he completes his 20-year prison term in 2044.

In Hong Kong, prisoners are provided one-third remission of their jail term on the grounds of good behaviour.

Even then, Lai would be around 90 if he were to be released in 2037.

He is set to serve another 18 years from today because of time already served during his lengthy trial.

Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy media mogul who spent decades as a defiant critic of Beijing, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

It marks the harshest sentence he could have possibly received in the national security trial that was closely watched around the world.

The landmark ruling caps a three-year campaign by Beijing to neutralise a figure it has accused of orchestrating Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.

Lai smiled and waved towards the public gallery after his sentence was handed down, while his wife, Teresa Lai, sat with her arms folded, her expression impassive.

Weeping could be heard from the back of the gallery as the courtroom absorbed the ruling.

The judge said the sentencing was 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,” the court documents said.

Although Lai was convicted on three separate counts carrying a combined potential sentence of more than 35 years, the court ruled that some of the terms would be served concurrently, resulting in a total prison sentence of 20 years, according to the judgment.

We have more images from outside the court showing supporters, family members and members of the media gathered there.

Jimmy Lai’s wife, Teresa Lai, was visibly in tears as she left the building, surrounded by onlookers and journalists.

Hong Kong national security police chief Steve Li says Jimmy Lai’s case demonstrates the city’s rule of law.

Li said the case against media tycoon Lai showcased the city’s rule of law and the functioning of its judicial system.

Jimmy Lai’s son, who has long campaigned for his father’s release, has reacted to his sentencing this morning to 20 years in prison.

“Today is a dark day for anyone who believes in truth, freedom and justice,” Sebastien Lai said in a statement.

“It signifies the total destruction of the Hong Kong legal system and the end of justice.”

Jimmy Lai’s daughter Claire Lai called the sentence “heartbreakingly cruel”.

“He will die a martyr behind bars,” she said.

Mark Clifford, the author of The Troublemaker, a book about Jimmy Lai, said the media tycoon’s two-year trial was “just for show” and described the 20-year sentence as exceptionally severe.

“It seems clear they want him to spend the rest of his life in prison,” Clifford, who is also the president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, said.

He added that Lai would do so unless there was a political solution allowing him to leave Hong Kong.

“Twenty years for a 78-year-old man is effectively a life sentence – or a death sentence.

”He added: “China needs to understand that Lai is more trouble in prison than outside it.”

“His continued imprisonment makes a thawing of relations between the United States and China difficult. Sending him into exile would be in everyone’s interest.”

Jimmy Lai has been convicted under Hong Kong’s broad national security law.

The law, known as Article 23, is said to crimes including treason, sedition, theft of state secrets, espionage, and “external interference” including from foreign governments.

But activists and lawmakers have said the new law criminalises basic human rights such as freedom of expression.

“Many of these proposed provisions are vague and criminalise people’s peaceful exercises of human rights, including the rights to freedom of association, assembly, expression and the press,” a group of 80 civil society groups, including British-based Hong Kong Watch, wrote in a joint letter in February 2024.