Hong Kong Watch condemns Jimmy Lai’s sentencing and calls for international action on his release

By Lord Patten of Barnes, Patron of Hong Kong Watch and the last Governor of Hong Kong

Despite tireless advocacy by his son, his legal team, and human rights groups worldwide, Jimmy Lai now faces the rest of his life behind bars. The UK government has not put sufficient pressure on the PRC to secure his release. This is both a moral and diplomatic failure. However, I know that this does not mark the end – that Sebastian, his son, Claire, his daughter, and his many supporters around the world, will continue to fight and advocate for his release, using whatever means possible.

By Benedict Rogers, co-founder and Chair of Trustees of Hong Kong Watch

Today is a very dark day – for Jimmy Lai and his family, for his friends, supporters and advocates worldwide, and for all those who cherished the rights and freedoms that were once enjoyed by Hong Kongers, but are now dismantled by the draconian National Security Law imposed on the city by Beijing.

On 15 December 2025, Mr Lai was convicted on two charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign powers and on one charge of conspiracy to publish seditious publications. Today, he has been sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. He is now likely to die behind bars, without urgent international intervention to secure his freedom.

This outcome was predetermined. The trial of Mr Lai was never fair or just, and never in line with the common law protections central to Hong Kong’s judicial system prior to 2020. This trial was a show trial in the most literal sense – it was designed to show the 2020 National Security Law in all its power and reach over Hong Kong’s legal systems. Mr Lai’s trial was conducted by three hand-picked ‘national security’ judges who – in virtually every paragraph of the 855-page judgment handed down at the verdict – sought to tie Mr Lai, by inference, allusion, and conjecture, to the charge of collusion with so-called ‘foreign forces’.

I am apparently one of those ‘foreign forces’. I am named at least 95 times in the judgment. I have indeed met with Mr Lai on many occasions in London, Taiwan and New York. I have also communicated regularly with Mr Lai by phone and WhatsApp. We talked about journalism, about Hong Kong, about family and friends, about our shared Catholic faith, and about the democratic and human rights values we both cherish. Are such conversations really criminal acts?

According to the paranoid logic of the National Security Law, such benign relationships are evidence of collusion, conspiracy, and foreign influence. Where enemies of the state do not exist, they must be created. Where no conspiracy exists, one must be conjured into being.

This should serve as a warning to all governments, private sector organisations, and individuals who wish to do business in Hong Kong. When a legal system takes leave of reality and replaces it with politically-convenient narratives; where the text of the law is less important than guilt by association and conjecture: we all cease to enjoy the customary protection of the law. When the law has been twisted to persecute one individual, it will almost certainly be twisted again. The fate of Mr Lai should be a warning to us all.

We urge the government of the United Kingdom to act immediately and without delay to press China to release Mr Lai on grounds of his deteriorating health, and to allow him, as a British citizen, to be able to leave Hong Kong with his wife in order to be reunited with the rest of his family. We call upon other governments, particularly the United States, Canada, Australia, the European Union, and Japan, to join with the United Kingdom in this effort.

香港監察譴責黎智英案判決 呼籲國際社會採取行動促成放人

香港監察贊助人、最後一任香港總督彭定康勳爵（Lord Patten of Barnes）

儘管他的兒子、律師團隊和全球人權團體持續不懈倡議，黎智英恐怕仍將在監獄度過餘生。英國政府未能向中國施加足夠壓力促使他獲釋。這既是道義上的失敗，也是外交上的失敗。不過，我知道事情不會就此告一段落——他的兒子黎崇恩、女兒黎采和世界各地眾多支持者會繼續用盡一切可能方法，為爭取釋放他奔走倡議。

香港監察共同創辦人兼信託董事會主席羅傑斯（Benedict Rogers）

今日對黎智英和家人、對他在世界各地的朋友、支持者和倡議者，以及對所有珍視權利和自由的人來說，是非常黑暗的一日。這些權利和自由是香港人曾經享有的，但如今已被北京在香港強推的《國家安全法》苛法毀於一旦。

2025年12月15日，黎智英被裁定兩項「串謀勾結外國勢力」罪及一項「串謀發布煽動刊物」罪罪名成立。今日，他被判處20年監禁。如果國際社會不緊急介入營救他的話，他可能會死在監獄。

判決結果早已預定。黎智英的審訊從不公平公正，也從不符合2020年前香港司法制度的核心普通法保障。這場審訊名副其實是「做騷公審」，旨在徹底展示2020年《國安法》對香港法律制度的威力和影響力。黎智英的案件由三名欽點「國家安全」法官審理，三人在裁決當日頒布的855頁判詞中，幾乎每一段都設法透過推斷、影射和臆測，將黎智英與勾結所謂「外國勢力」的罪名扣連起來。

我顯然被列為其中一個「外國勢力」。我的名字在判詞中至少出現95次。我的而且確在倫敦、台灣和紐約多次見過黎智英。我也時常透過電話和WhatsApp與黎智英溝通。我們談到新聞工作、香港、家人朋友、我們共有的天主教信仰，還有我們都珍視的民主與人權價值。這類對話真的構成犯罪嗎？

根據《國安法》的妄想邏輯，這種良性關係是勾結、串謀和外國影響的證據。如果國家敵人不存在，就必須創造出來。如果陰謀不存在，就必須憑空捏造出來。

這應為所有有意在香港營商的政府、私營機構和人士敲響警鐘。當法律制度脫離現實，以政治方便的敘事取而代之時；當法律條文不如罪惡關聯（guilt by association）和臆測重要時，我們眾人就不再享有法律的慣常保障。當法律被扭曲來迫害某個人時，這種情況幾乎肯定會再次發生。黎智英的遭遇理應是對我們所有人的警告。

我們促請英國政府立即毫不遲疑地採取行動，要求中國以黎智英健康狀況惡化為由放人，並容許身為英國公民的他攜同太太離開香港，與其他家人團聚。我們呼籲其他國家政府，特別是美國、加拿大、澳洲、歐盟和日本，與英國聯手促成這事。

Photo: Iris Tong, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons