By James Pomfret and Jessie Pang
HONG KONG, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai is set to be sentenced on Monday in the financial hub’s most high-profile national security case, amid growing calls to free the long-standing critic of the Chinese Communist Party whose health is frail.
The sentence comes after a legal saga spanning almost five years with Lai – the founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper – after he was convicted last year of two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, and one count of publishing seditious materials. He was first arrested in August 2020.
Lai’s plight has been criticised by global leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, spotlighting a years-long national security crackdown in the China-ruled Asian financial hub, following mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.
The 78-year-old, who now faces the prospect of life behind bars, has denied all the charges against him, saying in court he is a “political prisoner” facing persecution from Beijing.
Dozens of Lai’s supporters queued for several days to secure a spot in the courtroom, with scores of police officers, sniffer dogs and police vehicles including an armoured truck and a bomb disposal van deployed around the area.
“I feel that Mr. Lai is the conscience of Hong Kong,” said a man named Sum, 64, who started queueing last Thursday.
“He speaks up for Hong Kong people, and even for many wrongful cases in mainland China and for the development of democracy. So I feel that spending a few days of my own freedom sleeping out here is better than seeing him locked up inside.”
Starmer raised the case of Lai, who holds British citizenship, in detail during a tête-à-tête with Chinese leader Xi Jinping last month in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, according to people briefed on the discussions. Britain’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, and China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, were also present.
“I raised the case of Jimmy Lai and called for his release,” Starmer told the UK parliament after his trip.
Trump too, raised Lai’s case with Xi during a meeting last October. Several Western diplomats told Reuters that negotiations to free Lai would likely begin in earnest after he is sentenced, and depending on whether Lai will appeal.
LIFE IN PRISON?
Lai’s family, lawyer, supporters and former colleagues have warned that he could die in prison as he suffers from health conditions including heart palpitations and high blood pressure.
Sentencing guidelines under the national security law (NSL) stipulate that Lai, who was deemed a “mastermind” of a conspiracy to engage with foreign activists, politicians and others to solicit foreign sanctions against Hong Kong and China, could come under the most severe penalty “band” of ten years to life imprisonment for offences of a “grave nature”.
Besides Lai, six former senior Apple Daily staffers, an activist and a paralegal will also be sentenced.
“Jimmy Lai’s trial has been nothing but a charade from the start and shows total contempt for Hong Kong laws that are supposed to protect press freedom,” said the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Asia-Pacific Director Beh Lih Yi.
Beijing, however, says Lai has received a fair trial and all are treated equally under the national security law that has restored order to the city.
(Reporting by James Pomfret, Jessie Pang and Greg Torode; Additional reporting by Andrew MacAskill in London; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Lincoln Feast.)
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