Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai, others to be sentenced for unlawful meeting

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai and 9 different pro-democracy activists are anticipated to be sentenced on Friday after they have been discovered responsible of taking part in unauthorised assemblies throughout anti-government protests in 2019.
It can be the primary time that Lai, considered one of Hong Kong’s most distinguished democratic activists, who has been in jail since December after being denied bail in a separate nationwide safety trial, will obtain a sentence.
About 100 folks, together with international diplomats, queued outdoors the court docket early on Friday to get a seat for the listening to.
Lai was discovered responsible in two separate trials earlier in April for unlawful assemblies on August 18 and August 31 2019, respectively. The most doable punishment is 5 years in jail.
His repeated arrests have drawn criticism from Western governments and worldwide rights teams, who raised issues over waning freedoms within the international monetary hub, together with freedom of speech and meeting.
In the August 18 case, District Court choose Amanda Woodcock discovered him responsible along with Martin Lee, who helped launch town’s largest opposition Democratic Party within the Nineties and is usually referred to as the previous British colony’s “father of democracy.”
As he entered the court docket on Friday, Lee stated: “I feel completely relaxed, I’m ready to face my sentence.”
The different defendants, additionally discovered responsible, included distinguished barrister Margaret Ng and veteran democrats Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho, Leung Kwok-hung, Cyd Ho, Au Nok-hin and Leung Yiu-chung. The latter two had pleaded responsible.
In her mitigation speech, Ng stated the legislation should not solely be defended in courts or the legislature, but additionally within the streets.
“When the people, in the last resort, had to give collective expression to their anguish and urge the government to respond, protected only by their expectation that the government will respect their rights, I must be prepared to stand with them, stand by them and stand up for them,” she stated.
In the second trial, the identical choose discovered Lai and Lee Cheuk-yan responsible along with Yeung Sum. The August 31 clashes have been a few of Hong Kong’s worst, with police firing tear fuel and water cannons at pro-democracy protesters who threw petrol bombs.
All three had pleaded responsible.
Lee Cheuk-yan posted on Facebook late on Thursday that he anticipated to go to jail however that his thoughts was “free as the ocean and the sky.”
The 2019 pro-democracy protests have been spurred by Beijing’s tightening squeeze on wide-ranging freedoms promised to Hong Kong upon its return to Chinese rule in 1997, and plunged the semi-autonomous metropolis into its greatest disaster because the handover.
Beijing has since consolidated its authoritarian grip on Hong Kong by imposing a sweeping nationwide safety legislation, punishing something it deems as secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with international forces with as much as life in jail.
Supporters of the legislation say it has restored stability.
Lai, founding father of the Apple Daily tabloid, has been a frequent customer to Washington, assembly officers corresponding to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to rally assist for Hong Kong democracy, prompting Beijing to label him a “traitor”.
Lai is scheduled for 2 extra court docket mentions on Friday, within the ongoing trial the place he’s charged with collusion with a international nation and a fraud case associated to the lease of the constructing which homes Apple Daily.
Earlier this week, the tabloid revealed a hand-written letter Lai despatched to his colleagues from jail, saying: “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. It is ‘time for us to stand tall’,” he wrote.