Source: Amnesty International –
Responding to the 20-year sentence handed to Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai for ‘national security’ offences, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks said:
“This sentencing marks another grim milestone in Hong Kong’s transformation from a city governed by the rule of law to one ruled by fear. Imprisoning a 78-year-old man for doing nothing more than exercising his rights shows a complete disregard for human dignity. Every day he spends in behind bars is a grave injustice.
“With this ruling we see yet again how Hong Kong’s National Security Law is being used to distort fundamental freedoms into criminal acts. Jimmy Lai’s imprisonment is a cold-blooded attack of freedom of expression that epitomizes the systematic dismantling of rights that once defined Hong Kong.
“Jimmy Lai is a prisoner of conscience who should never have spent a single day behind bars. The Hong Kong authorities must immediately and unconditionally release him.”