Who is Jimmy Lai? British citizen and democracy activist sentenced in Hong Kong

Jimmy Lai has already spent 1,800 days in solitary confinement since he was arrested in 2020

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media mogul Jimmy Lai was being heralded by supporters as the city’s “conscience” on Monday after he was sentenced to 20 years in prison on national security charges.

Once a penniless teenage refugee who arrived in Hong Kong as a stowaway, Mr Lai rose to become one of the city’s most influential media tycoons has now become its most prominent political prisoner.

Mr Lai, 78, has been handed the longest sentence so far under Hong Kong's controversial national security laws, which were introduced in 2020 following a period of city-wide protests. The UK government has condemned his jailing as “tantamount to a death sentence” for the media mogul, while other countries including Japan have also spoken out.

Monday’s sentencing represents an effort by Beijing to quash what they see as a destabilising presence, but also the failure of foreign governments – particularly the UK, of which Mr Lai is a citizen – to secure either a more lenient sentence or his release.

Lai was arrested just two months after this photo was taken in June 2020 (AFP/Getty)

Mr Lai has already spent five years behind bars for his role in Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests, yet only two of those were counted as time already served, meaning he will not leave prison under his current sentence under 2044. He would be 96.

The sentencing came only days after Sir Keir Starmer flew to China for the first trip to the country by a UK leader in eight years, amid pressure from human rights groups to press for the release of the British national.

Concluding his trip on 31 January, Mr Starmer said he raised the case during his meeting with Xi Jinping and that he had a “respectful” discussion regarding his imprisonment in the former British colony.

Mr Lai, 77, who founded the Apple Daily newspaper, which was forced to close after a police raid and asset freeze in June 2021, had pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, and a charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material.

But after a two year trial, three judges handed down a guilty verdict, with Judge Esther Toh saying Mr Lai’s actions left “no doubt” that he had “harboured resentment” for the Chinese government.

She said that the court was satisfied that Lai was the “mastermind” of conspiracies against the Chinese government and that his evidence was at times contradictory, inconsistent and unreliable.

Who is Jimmy Lai?

Born in mainland China, Mr Lai fled to Hong Kong aged 12 by stowing away on a fishing boat, where he began work as a child labourer in a garment factory.

He built his fortune through fashion empire Giordano, before becoming an outspoken democracy advocate following the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, when hundreds, if not thousands, of protesters fighting for political reforms in Beijing were killed.

In 1994, Mr Lai become a full British citizen. Despite having never held a Chinese or Hong Kong passport, he is regarded as a Chinese citizen by Hong Kong authorities.

Mr Lai began the producing Chinese-language and pro-democratic newspaper Apple Daily before the 1997 handover of Hong Kong from the UK to China, as he aimed to maintain freedom of speech in the territory. The paper was openly critical about the Chinese government.

Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai, 72, poses during an interview with AFP at the Next Digital offices in Hong Kong (AFP/Getty)

Why was he imprisoned?

A known pro-democracy campaigner, Mr Lai was known to Chinese authorities ahead of the 2019 protests in Hong Kong, prompted by Beijing’s growing crackdown on wide-ranging freedoms through the national security law.

Mr Lai described the legislation as "a death knell for Hong Kong", and his Apple Daily newspaper was critical of the reforms while being supportive of the protestors.

On 10 August 2020, Mr Lai was arrested alongside his sons on the accusation of collusion with foreign forces and fraud. Later that year he became the first high-profile figure to be charged for allegedly conspiring and colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security, under the new legislation.

He has since been charged and banned on separate cases of unlawful assembly and other crimes relating to pro-democratic protests in Hong Kong.

On 15 December, Mr Lai was found guilty on multiple charges of sedition and foreign collusion, in a landmark moment for the city’s draconian national security laws and sliding press freedoms.

Judges depicted Mr Lai as the orchestrator of a campaign aimed at pressuring foreign governments to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and China, allegedly with the goal of bringing about the “downfall” of the ruling Communist Party. Lai has denied all the charges.

The sentencing on 9 February capped the legal saga spanning almost five years. Three judges handpicked by Hong Kong’s leadership sentenced Mr Lai to 20 years in jail on national security charges.

Mr Lai's sentence of 20 years was within the harshest penalty "band" of 10 years to life imprisonment for offences of a "grave nature" and is the most severe punishment meted out yet under the new laws.

The three judges said Mr Lai's sentence was enhanced by the fact that he was the "mastermind" and driving force behind "persistent" foreign collusion conspiracies.

Lai’s declining health

Mr Lai has spent much of his imprisonment in solitary confinement – and his son has been outspoken about fears over his health.

The millionaire’s son, Sebastien Lai, claimed last year that his father, who suffers from diabetes, had lost a significant amount of weight and that he had been denied independent medical care.

Jimmy Lai’s son, Sebastien has hit out at his father’s treatment (AFP via Getty Images)

Mr Lai's lawyer, Robert Pang, told the court that he had experienced some episodes where he felt that he was collapsing and had heart "palpitations", prompting the court to adjourn proceedings and order that he be provided with a heart monitor and medication.

The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, a US-based, non-profit advocacy organisation, said Mr Lai was an iconic figure in the battle between those who uphold democratic values and Hong Kong’s authoritarian government.

Responding to his conviction in December, its UK and Europe director Mark Sabah said: “The trial against Jimmy Lai has been a grotesque exercise in legal subversion and chicanery – a show trial masquerading as justice. But what’s actually been on display is the complete and total destruction of Hong Kong’s reputation as a global legal centre.

“My father has been treated inhumanely,” his son, Sebastien Lai, previously told The Independent. “But he is defiant and strong. It is ridiculous that in his display of bravery, the prime minister [Sir Keir] will not meet with me,” he added.