Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai (黎智英) would not appeal against the national security conviction for which he was jailed for 20 years last month, his legal team said yesterday, without providing a reason.
The 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper was found guilty in December last year on charges of foreign collusion and seditious publication.
His sentence was the harshest penalty doled out so far under a national security legislation imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing after widespread pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Photo: AFP
“We have clear and definitive instructions [from Lai] not to lodge an appeal against conviction or sentence,” his legal team said, adding that they would not give an explanation for the decision.
Lai’s conviction and sentencing received international condemnation, with rights groups saying his punishment was “effectively a death sentence” and a symbol of the city’s shriveling press freedoms.
UN rights chief Volker Turk has called for the verdict to be “promptly quashed as incompatible with international law.”
US President Donald Trump, who is expected to visit China this month, has urged Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to free Lai.
China rejected the criticism, with Beijing saying it lodged “solemn representations” with nations that condemned the sentence.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee (李家超) lauded the “severe” prison term as a demonstration of the city’s rule of law.
Eight other defendants, including six Apple Daily executives, were handed jail sentences of up to 10 years in the same case.
All except Lai had pleaded guilty.
Lai’s decision reflects a “general disillusionment” with how the Hong Kong judiciary handles national security cases, Oxford Brookes University law lecturer Urania Chiu said.
The courts have “shown a ‘national security first’ approach which allows no space for rights-based arguments,” she added.
“Against this backdrop, it is hard for individual defendants and the general public to place trust in the judiciary’s independence and competence,” Chiu said.
Georgetown Center for Asian Law senior fellow Eric Lai said “it is premature to conclude whether forgoing an appeal might facilitate a negotiated release” ahead of any meeting between Trump and Xi.
That was because geopolitical conditions have “shifted considerably” with war breaking out in the Middle East.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
RSS