{"id":18442,"date":"2021-04-16T06:06:42","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T10:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=18442"},"modified":"2021-04-16T06:06:42","modified_gmt":"2021-04-16T10:06:42","slug":"hong-kong-jimmy-lai-sentenced-to-one-year-for-pro-democracy-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/04\/16\/hong-kong-jimmy-lai-sentenced-to-one-year-for-pro-democracy-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong: Jimmy Lai sentenced to one year for pro-democracy protests"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p><b class=\"ssrcss-14iz86j-BoldText e5tfeyi0\">Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after being found guilty of unauthorised assembly.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Mr Lai was one of several activists in court on Friday who were earlier found guilty of charges relating to large pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>The 73-year-old founder of Apple Daily is a fierce critic of Beijing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>The verdict comes as the mainland is increasingly cracking down on Hong Kong&#8217;s rights and freedoms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Nine activists were sentenced on Friday for participating in a demonstration on 18 August 2019. Another three received sentences in relation to a separate protest on 31 August.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"unordered-list-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1pzprxn-BulletListContainer e5tfeyi3\">\n<ul role=\"list\">\n<li><a class=\"ssrcss-hiczm3-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-china-56534040\">What is China&#8217;s &#8216;patriot&#8217; plan for Hong Kong?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"ssrcss-hiczm3-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-china-53718901\">Hong Kong&#8217;s rebel mogul and pro-democracy voice<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Earlier this week, Mr Lai&#8217;s Apple Daily newspaper published a hand-written letter by him, sent from prison, which read: &#8220;It is our responsibility as journalists to seek justice. As long as we are not blinded by unjust temptations, as long as we do not let evil get its way through us, we are fulfilling our responsibility.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Speaking to the BBC in an exclusive interview ahead of his charging hearing, Mr Lai, who was born in mainland China but smuggled into Hong Kong as a child, said even if he were to be imprisoned, he would still be &#8220;living my life meaningfully&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&#8220;I came here with one dollar. I got everything I have because of this place,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If this is the payback time, this is my redemption.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Mr Lai faced eight charges in total, two of which were imposed under the country&#8217;s new National Security Law, which can carry a maximum term of life in prison.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>The law, implemented in Hong Kong by China last year, criminalises secession and subversion. Earlier this month, Beijing overhauled the territory&#8217;s electoral rules to ensure more loyalty to the mainland.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-56770567\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after being found guilty of unauthorised assembly. Mr Lai was one of several activists in court on Friday who were <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/04\/16\/hong-kong-jimmy-lai-sentenced-to-one-year-for-pro-democracy-protests\/\" title=\"Hong Kong: Jimmy Lai sentenced to one year for pro-democracy protests\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[1673,1060,7308],"class_list":{"0":"post-18442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-world","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-hong-kong","11":"tag-jimmy-lai","12":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18442"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18444,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18442\/revisions\/18444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}