Media tycoon Lai jailed amid crackdown on Hong Kong's dissidents

Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai was sentenced yesterday to 14 months in prison for attending unauthorised protests and charged with more national security offences as authorities pursue a deluge of cases against the city’s high-profile dissidents.

Lai (73) and the founder of the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, was sentenced alongside other prominent activists for participating in two protests not approved by police in August 2019, at the height of the city’s unrest.

For one of these protests, Hong Kong’s “father of democracy” Martin Lee (82) was handed a suspended sentence in the same case, as were senior lawyers and former lawmakers Margaret Ng (73) and Albert Ho (69) in recognition of their advanced ages and contributions to society, District Court Judge Amanda Woodcock said.

“The wrongful prosecution, conviction and sentencing of these activists underlines the Hong Kong government’s intention to eliminate all political opposition in the city,” Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific regional director Yamini Mishra said in a statement yesterday.

Earlier in the day, Lai was charged with two other crimes under the city’s sweeping national security law – another count of foreign collusion, and for trying to help a local activist flee to Taiwan.

The developments came on a day when Lai, a well-known critic of Beijing, faced four separate court appearances. He had two sentencings, a brief hearing on his national security law offences and also attended a separate hearing for a fraud case related to his company’s office space.

“Four cases in one day? Come on, that’s ridiculous,” said Mark Simon, Lai’s deputy. “This is about showing their ability to crush the guy they think is the most powerful man in the movement."

And yet Lai is only the most prominent among many Hong Kong democracy campaigners facing multiple charges for challenging Beijing’s tightening grip over the financial hub following sometimes-violent protests in 2019. While Hong Kong’s government maintains it’s pursuing cases with no political motivations, lawyers and activists say the flood of legal proceedings is designed to deter others from organising demonstrations and criticising Beijing.

“This is not potential but actual, effective intimidation,” said Jerome Cohen, founder of the US-Asia Law Institute at the New York University School of Law and one of the US’s foremost legal experts on China.

“Piling on of prosecutions against many of Hong Kong’s most distinguished liberal reformers not only removes them from the active scene but also deters and suffocates others.”

Hong Kong’s Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment.

In sentencing, Judge Woodcock said she took into account the violence of previous 2019 protests and the public disruption that occurred on both days in August 2019 when she handed down jail time for all other defendants.

Also sentenced yesterday were former lawmakers Lee Cheuk-yan, Au Nok-hin and Cyd Ho, as well as activist Leung “Long Hair” Kwok-hung, who received prison terms ranging from eight to 18 months for the same protest in August as Martin Lee.

Bloomberg