Jimmy Lai walks by way of the Stanley jail, in Hong Kong, July 28, 2023.
| Photograph Credit score: AP
Hong Kong pro-democracy ex-publisher Jimmy Lai won’t enchantment the nationwide safety conviction for which he was sentenced to twenty years in jail final month, his authorized staff stated on Friday (March 6, 2026).
Lai, an outspoken critic of China’s ruling Communist Get together who based the now-defunct Apple Each day, was discovered responsible in December of conspiracy to collude with overseas forces and conspiring with others to publish seditious articles.
His authorized staff informed The Related Press through a textual content message in regards to the determination, which ends a yearslong authorized battle. The attorneys wouldn’t touch upon the explanation for not interesting.
Observers say his conviction mirrored the decline of press and different freedoms which have modified Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to China’s management in 1997. The federal government insists the case has nothing to do with a free press, saying the defendants used information reporting as a pretext for years to commit acts that harmed China and Hong Kong.
Lai was one of many first outstanding figures to be arrested below the safety regulation in 2020. Inside a 12 months, a few of Apple Each day’s senior journalists had been additionally arrested, and the newspaper, identified for its vital protection of each the Beijing and Hong Kong governments, shut down in June 2021.
Lai is 78, and his prolonged sentence raised considerations that he might spend the remainder of his life in jail.
After the sentencing, the youngsters of Lai stated a doable go to by U.S. President Donald Trump to Beijing could possibly be essential in securing the discharge of their father, a British citizen.
The White Home has confirmed that Trump will journey to China on March 31 by way of April 2 to satisfy Chinese language chief Xi Jinping, though there isn’t any official affirmation from Beijing to date.
Chinese language and Hong Kong authorities have defended Lai’s sentencing, saying it mirrored the spirit of the rule of regulation.
Revealed – March 06, 2026 08:49 am IST