"Waking up on Monday morning to the news of the pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai's 20-year prison sentence for national security offences felt surreal. I could have easily been in his position if I hadn't fled Hong Kong right before the implementation of the notorious national security law (NSL), under which Lai has faced the harshest penalty ever given. In fact, Lai chose to stay and stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Hong Kong in the face of an uncertain and repressive future."
"Carefully handpicked NSL judges in the Hong Kong judiciary claim in their verdict that Lai has rabid hatred and deep resentment toward the Chinese Communist party (CCP), even though he repeated that he embraces the People's Republic of China as a country. The court also accused Apple Daily, the newspaper that Lai founded and that was critical of the CCP's human rights records, of poisoning the minds of his readers and spreading venomous assertions."
"Now his family fears that he will die in prison. A mix of emotions filled my mind. I was immensely disgusted by the audacity and malevolence of such punishment. This sentence has a transparently political end, but the Hong Kong and Chinese governments make no bones about it. Their sole purpose is to silence critics, and they have succeeded: civil society and domestic media, which should be the watchdogs of individual rights and government overreach, are dead silent on criticising the trial."
Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison under the national security law, marking the harshest penalty imposed so far. Lai remained in Hong Kong while others fled before the NSL and now faces imprisonment that his family fears may be fatal. The sentence serves a political purpose to silence dissent, and authorities make no effort to conceal that aim. Civil society and domestic media have largely fallen silent, and institutions once deemed neutral no longer maintain impartiality. Handpicked NSL judges characterized Lai as harboring rabid hatred of the CCP, while the court accused Apple Daily of poisoning readers.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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