Beijing critic and media tycoon Jimmy Lai sentenced to another 14 months behind bars

Karina Tsui
·2 min read
Jimmy Lai, center, leaves the Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong. Lai was sentenced to more jail time Friday, May 28, 2021 over his role in an anti-government protest in 2019, as authorities crack down on dissent in the city. - AP
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Outspoken Beijing critic and media tycoon Jimmy Lai was given a new prison sentence of 14 months for participating in an unauthorised assembly on October 1, 2019, China’s national day.

The 72-year-old was already serving 14 months in maximum security for participating in demonstrations of a similar nature in August the same year.

He faces three additional charges under Hong Kong’s draconian national security law, which was introduced last year in response to more than a year of anti-government rallies and demonstrations.

Judge Amanda Woodcock, who jailed Lai in April, handed down the additional sentence. Judge Woodcock stressed that the new sentence would be served consecutively, meaning that he will serve 20 months in prison.

Other opposition figures, including 25-year-old Figo Chan, Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho and Leung Kwok-hung, also known in Hong Kong as “Long Hair”, were sentenced to 18 months for each of two charges.

"Your Honour, for over 40 years I have strived for democratic reform in China," another oppositionMr Lee told the court during one of the hearings this week. "This is my unrequited love, the love for my country with such a heavy heart."

Claudia Mo, a former journalist and member of the now-disbanded pan-democratic camp jailed for violating the national security law, has been denied bail. The reasons cited by Hong Kong’s Department of Justice include conversations with international media outlets such as BBC, The New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

According to the department, Mo “remained vocal and highly influential in both local and international platforms, and had always maintained close connection with foreign diplomats of various countries".

Pro-democracy protesters gather in Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong on May 24, 2020, ahead of planned protests against a proposal to enact new security legislation in Hong Kong. - The proposed legislation is expected to ban treason, subversion and sedition, and follows repeated warnings from Beijing that it will no longer tolerate dissent in Hong Kong,  - AFP

Mr Lai’s latest sentence comes on the heels of a warning from Hong Kong’s security chief, who reportedly sent letters to the media mogul, HSBC and Citibank threatening up to seven years in prison for handling the billionaire's accounts in the city, according to documents seen by Reuters.

The media mogul is regarded as a top target by Beijing, which sees him as a traitor and someone who repeatedly incites anti-China rhetoric.