Jimmy Lai will not appeal conviction and 20-year sentence, lawyer says – UK Times

Jimmy Lai, the prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media tycoon, won’t appeal his conviction, his legal team said on Friday.

Lai was sentenced to 20 years in jail last month – the heaviest penalty ever handed out under Hong Kong’s national security law. The 78-year-old British citizen was found guilty in December of two charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under a China-imposed national security law, as well as a charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material.

Lai, a pro-democracy campaigner and founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, has denied all wrongdoing.

On Friday, a member of Lai’s Hong Kong legal team said: “We can confirm we have clear and definitive instructions not to lodge an appeal against conviction or sentence.”

Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai, has called the trial “politically motivated” and said that his father was “ludicrously found guilty in Hong Kong of trying to destroy the city he made his home in and which he loves”.

Lai’s legal team did not elaborate on why they are not appealing.

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

In late January, UK prime minister Keir Starmer arrived in Beijing and said that he would “raise the issues that need to be raised” on human rights with Xi Jingping, China’s president.

On the flight to China, he told reporters at the time: “…But part of the reason for engaging with China is so that issues where we disagree can be discussed.”

Mr Starmer had come under mounting pressure from rights groups to push for the release of Lai. Later, Lai’s son accused the PM of not doing enough to secure his father’s release.

Earlier, Yvette Cooper, the UK foreign secretary, said: “For 78-year-old Jimmy Lai, 20 years is an effective life sentence, following a politically motivated prosecution under a law that was imposed to silence China’s critics. The Hong Kong authorities must end Jimmy Lai’s appalling ordeal and release him to be with his family.”

Volker Turk, the UN rights chief, said at the time that the verdict “needs to be promptly quashed” as it is “incompatible with international law”.

“Jimmy Lai is a publisher sentenced to 20 years in prison for exercising rights protected under international law,” he said in a statement.

“This outcome highlights how the vague and overly broad provisions of Hong Kong’s national security legislation can lead to being interpreted and enforced in violation of Hong Kong’s international human rights obligations.

“I appeal for Jimmy Lai’s immediate release on humanitarian grounds, given his advanced age, health, and the impact of the more than four years he has already spent in detention.”

Last December, US President Donald Trump said he asked Mr Xi to consider releasing Lai. “I feel so badly,” Mr Trump told reporters. “I spoke to President Xi about it and I asked to consider his release.”