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Pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai ?deserves his punishment,? Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee has said, after the activist was handed a 20-year-jail term for his national security conviction.

In a lengthy government statement published on Monday afternoon, Lee said Lai, the 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, had ?committed numerous heinous crimes and his evil deeds were beyond measure.?

?The severe sentence of 20 years? imprisonment imposed on him manifests that the rule of law is upheld and justice is done, and also brings great relief to all,? Lee said.

Three designated national security judges delivered the sentence to Lai on Monday morning after he was convicted in December of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and conspiring to publish seditious materials.

To date, Lai?s 20-year sentence is the longest jail term handed down under the Beijing-imposed national security law, which was passed in June 2020 following large-scale protests and unrest that began in the summer of 2019.

?His conviction is supported by overwhelming evidence, and he for sure deserves his punishment after all the harm he has done,? Lee said.

The chief executive added that Lai?s case was the first foreign collusion offence conviction under the national security law.

?This marks an important milestone in? [Hong Kong?s] efforts to safeguard national security, manifesting the role of the? [national security law] as a key stabilising force,? he said.

?This case also admonishes that villains who endanger national security could never escape the sanctions of the law and would surely be severely punished in accordance with the law.?

On Monday, Lai was sentenced alongside eight others, including six former Apple Daily staff members.

Three of the ex-staff members ? Ryan Law, former editor-in-chief of Apple Daily; Lam Man-chung, former executive editor-in-chief of Apple Daily; and Fung Wai-kong, former managing editor of Apple Daily’s English version ? received 10-year sentences.

The other three ? publisher Cheung Kim-hung, former associate publisher Chan Pui-man, and editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee ? received shorter sentences varying from six years and nine months to seven years and three months.

Two other activists in the case, Wayland Chan and Andy Li, were jailed for six years and three months and seven years and three months, respectively.

In a reasons for sentence document, the three judges presiding over the case – Alex Lee, Esther Toh, and Susana Maria D’Almada Remedios – wrote that Lai was ?no doubt the mastermind? of the conspiracies.

The judges said that while an offender’s life expectancy, age, health, and prospect of dying behind bars were factors for consideration, they “had to be balanced against the gravity of the offence, and the public interest in seeing adequate punishment for serious crimes.”

Overseas NGOs have condemned the sentence. Human Rights Watch (HRW) called the 20-year jail term “effectively a death sentence,? adding that ?a sentence of this magnitude is both cruel and profoundly unjust.?

Meanwhile, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in response to a question at a press conference on Monday that Lai had undermined the city?s prosperity and deserved to be severely punished.

?We urge? countries to respect China?s sovereignty and respect Hong Kong?s rule of law, and not make irresponsible remarks about? the case,? he said in Mandarin.

Speaking to reporters outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building after the sentencing hearing, Chief Superintendent Steve Li of the police’s National Security Department welcomed Lai?s jail term.

He added that the police would be in contact with the Department of Justice to consider whether the authorities wanted to seek longer sentences through appeals.

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x Hillary Leung is a journalist at Hong Kong Free Press, where she reports on local politics and social issues, and assists with editing. Since joining in late 2021, she has covered the Covid-19 pandemic, political court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial, and challenges faced by minority communities.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Hillary completed her undergraduate degree in journalism and sociology at the University of Hong Kong. She worked at TIME Magazine in 2019, where she wrote about Asia and overnight US news before turning her focus to the protests that began that summer. At Coconuts Hong Kong, she covered general news and wrote features, including about a Black Lives Matter march that drew controversy amid the local pro-democracy movement and two sisters who were born to a domestic worker and lived undocumented for 30 years in Hong Kong.

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