UN deplores Hong Kong mogul Jimmy Lai’s jailing

AFP | Geneva

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The United Nations rights chief deplored Monday the 20-year-sentence handed to Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, demanding that the verdict be “promptly quashed”.

Lai, a British citizen and founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, was found guilty in December of urging foreign countries to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and for publishing “seditious” articles in his paper.

On Monday, a Hong Kong court handed down the harshest penalty yet under a Beijing-imposed national security law.

“Jimmy Lai is a publisher sentenced to 20 years in prison for exercising rights protected under international law,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement.