US EditionHong Kong Journalists Face 'Precarious' Future After Jimmy Lai Jailed
Jimmy Lai’s 20-year sentence under Hong Kong’s National Security Law exemplifies a crackdown that has jailed hundreds and silenced domestic media and critics, rights groups say.
- On Monday, Jimmy Lai, pro-democracy activist and media owner, was sentenced to 20 years under national security offences after choosing to remain in Hong Kong.
- The election overhaul removed opposition from the Legislative Council, and the last pro-democracy party disbanded last year, weakening institutional checks on prosecutions.
- Court documents used charged language that resembled political statements, with National Security Law judges saying Lai showed 'rabid hatred' and John Lee, Hong Kong Chief Executive, calling his crimes 'heinous'. Civil servants' unions also celebrated, while observers say the punishment serves a political purpose.
- Civil society and domestic media have fallen silent, and hundreds jailed, with Lai's family fearing he may die in custody.
- Activists say time is running out given Lai's deteriorating health, urging the UK to invoke the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 for action.
20 Articles
20 Articles
In all the official reports of Beijing's media on the 20-year sentence given on February 9 for the Hong Kong entrepreneur, a 2019 public interview was deliberately misrepresented. To justify the very hard penalty with words that the founder of the Apple Daily never said. Instead, he kept silent what he said about the link between his Christian faith and the battle for freedom and justice.
The Killeen Daily Herald
Hong Kong journalists face 'precarious' future after Jimmy Lai jailed
For Hong Kong journalists, this week's sentencing of pro-democracy newspaper boss Jimmy Lai cements a climate of fear and self-censorship in the years since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security
In Hong Kong, the political centre of gravity continues to move to Beijing. A few days after the sentencing of the pro-democracy former magnat de la presse, Jimmy Lai, Beijing, to 20 years in prison, national security and economic planning are now advancing within a framework largely defined by central government.
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