Jimmy Lai conviction is ‘death knell’ for press freedom, says Amnesty – live

Verdicts a ‘death knell’ for HK press freedom – Amnesty

Amnesty International has condemned Jimmy Lai’s conviction as “dismaying” and said it “feels like the death knell for press freedom in Hong Kong, where the essential work of journalism has been rebranded as a crime”.

The group’s China director, Sarah Brooks, said the verdicts also showed that Hong Kong’s national security laws were designed not to protect but to silence people.

Brooks called Lai a “prisoner of conscience” and demanded his immediate release.

The statement said Lai was jailed “simply because he and his Apple Daily newspaper criticised the government” and that his conviction “should also serve as a warning to all people doing business in Hong Kong: that pursuing opportunities in the city comes with severe legal risks”.

This verdict is not just about one man; it is the latest step in a systematic crackdown on freedom of expression in Hong Kong: targeting not only protests and political parties but the very idea that people can – indeed, should – hold power to account.

Updated at 04.53 CET

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Reporters Without Borders says it is outraged at Lai’s “unlawful conviction” and that it “only demonstrates the alarming deterioration of media freedom in the territory”.

A statement from the press freedom NGO continued:

It is not an individual who has been on trial – it is press freedom itself, and with this verdict that has been shattered.

The Apple Daily founder has embodied the courage of independent journalists in Hong Kong, and this verdict crushes any remaining space they have.

Democracies must finally act, and act fast: if they don’t, Lai will die in jail, and they will send a clear signal to the Chinese regime that it can spread its authoritarian model and violate international law, scot-free.

Hong Kong’s national security chief has reportedly welcomed the guilty verdicts against Jimmy Lai.

Verdicts a ‘death knell’ for HK press freedom – Amnesty

The group’s China director, Sarah Brooks, said the verdicts also showed that Hong Kong’s national security laws were designed not to protect but to silence people.

Brooks called Lai a “prisoner of conscience” and demanded his immediate release.

Updated at 04.53 CET

Lai verdicts condemned as ‘sham conviction’

The Committee to Protect Journalists has decried the Jimmy Lai verdicts as a “sham conviction” and called for his immediate release.

The advocacy group’s Asia-Pacific director, Beh Lih Yi, said: “This sham conviction is a disgraceful act of persecution.”

Her comments on the group’s website continue:

The ruling underscores Hong Kong’s utter contempt for press freedom, which is supposed to be protected under the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law. Jimmy Lai’s only crime is running a newspaper and defending democracy.

The risk of him dying from ill health in prison increases as each day passes – he must be reunited with his family immediately.

Updated at 04.15 CET

Jimmy Lai is facing possible lifetime jail sentences after today’s verdicts.

As mentioned earlier, the media tycoon and pro-democracy figure had pleaded not guilty to two counts of “conspiracy to foreign collusion” under the security law as well as one count of “conspiracy to publish seditious publications”.

The Hong Kong high court has just found him guilty of all three counts after a trial that lasted for more than two years.

We’ll be bringing you reaction to the verdicts as it comes to hand.

Updated at 04.01 CET

Helen Davidson

The next court date is 12 January, as parties have an opportunity to appeal.

The date for sentencing is to be determined.

Court finds Lai found guilty of all charges

Helen Davidson

The Hong Kong high court has found Jimmy Lai guilty of all charges.

The court says that on the totality of the evidence, its verdicts are as follows:

Count 1 – all defendants guilty

Count 2 – all defendants guilty

Count 3 – first defendant [Lai] is guilty

Judge Esther Toh says:

The only reasonable inference we can draw from the preponderance of the evidence is that the first defendant’s intention – pre or post-NSL [national security law] – was to seek the downfall of the CCP, even though the ultimate cost was the sacrifice of the people of the PRC [People’s Republic of China] and HKSAR [Hong Kong special administrative region].

We are satisfied the first defendant was the mastermind of the conspiracies charge in counts one, two and three.

We are also satisfied … that he made use of the various platforms of Apple Daily with the full agreement and knowing assistance of the corporate defendants which made them parties to those conspiracies.

Updated at 03.51 CET

Representatives of the UK, the US and France are among the people at the court for today’s verdicts and are pictured here as they entered the building earlier.

A British consulate staff member enters the West Kowloon courts building ahead of the Jimmy Lai verdicts. Photograph: Leung Man Hei/AFP/Getty ImagesA US consulate staff member enters. Photograph: Leung Man Hei/AFP/Getty ImagesEmily Lau, former chairperson of the now-dissolved Democratic Party of Hong Kong, arrives for the verdicts. Photograph: Leung Man Hei/AFP/Getty ImagesA French consulate staff member enters the courts building. Photograph: Leung Man Hei/AFP/Getty ImagesShare

Updated at 03.56 CET

The judge is reading the messages, giving the date they were sent. It’s a date before July 2020.

Toh says:

There is no doubt in our mind that the first defendant never wavered in his intention to destabilise the governance of the CCP, and despite the enactment of the NSL, he was intent on continuing though in a less explicit way.

ShareHelen Davidson

A frequent criticism of the Hong Kong authorities’ national security prosecutions – including Lai’s – is that they at times appear to apply it retrospectively, even though it’s not supposed to be applied that way.

Judge Esther Toh has spent several minutes reading through messages from or about Lai and his top aide, Mark Simon, and noting Lai’s meetings with US officials and Hong Kong dissidents, much of which date from before the law was imposed.

Toh says a lot of the evidence demonstrates “the reach and influence” of Lai within the US government.

ShareHelen Davidson

Those messages in the last post are from before the national security law was imposed. But judge Esther Toh is saying the meetings sought to arrange for US sanctions, blockade or other hostile activity against China and Hong Kong in relation to the proposed extradition bill which sparked the 2019 protests.

Updated at 03.28 CET

Helen Davidson

Toh is reading excerpts from messages about Lai and his close associate Mark Simon arranging meetings with US officials, including former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, former national security advisor John Bolton and other White House figures.

ShareHelen Davidson

Toh says the evidence of Lai’s alleged co-conspirators (who testified against him in trial) was tested, and their evidence remains “solid and irrefutable”.

ShareHelen Davidson

Judge Esther Toh described Lai’s actions as analogous to a US citizen asking for help from Russia to bring down the state of California.

The judge said:

The evidence plainly shows that [Lai] clearly conspired with senior management at Apple Daily and the corporate entities in counts one and two.

There is indisputable evidence that [Lai] conspired with the named conspirators in count three … to request foreign countries to impose sanctions, blockade, or engage in other hostile activities against the PRC, HKSAR or both.

Updated at 03.23 CET

Judge says Lai ‘harboured resentment’ for China

Helen Davidson

Judge Esther Toh says she will read the verdict’s last six pages to the court – the concluding remarks.

She says:

It is very clear to us… that their evidence is supported by the Whatsapp messages, many of which emanated from the first defendant himself. It’s also clear to us that [Lai], from long before the national security legislation, had been applying his mind to what leverage the US could use towards the NSC [national security committee].

Toh is referencing evidence given during the prosecution.

There was no doubt the first defendant had harboured his resentment for the PRC [People’s Republic of China] for many of his adult years.

Noting here that Lai is the first defendant. The co-accused are Apple Daily companies.

Updated at 03.23 CET

Helen Davidson

Helen Davidson is reporting live from the courtroom in Hong Kong.

Esther Toh is speaking first, asking there be “no disturbance within this courtroom” during the hearing, and for “decorum” to be observed and maintained after the judges rise.

The full reasons for the verdict are 855 pages long, she says.

Updated at 03.05 CET

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