To absolutely no one’s surprise, after a two year trial, the Hong Kong democracy activist and former media tycoon, Jimmy Lai, has been convicted of “colluding with foreign forces” under Hong Kong’s National Security Law and publishing seditious material. His sentence may be life imprisonment, but given that he is 78 and suffering from diabetes which has not been properly treated in detention, this may not last long. In any event he has already spent more than 1800 days in solitary confinement.
He was notably cheerful in court as his sentence was pronounced – perhaps because his family was present – but it is a grim prospect for him and, as is the intention, for anyone else thinking of criticising Chinese rule within Hong Kong. All his co-defendants pleaded guilty; chillingly, five became prosecution witnesses. The judgment was, however, applauded in a statement by China's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, which, in Mao-speak, called Lai a "running dog" and a "lackey" for external forces.
