China is under intense scrutiny today after British media activist Jimmy Lai received a 20-year prison sentence from a Hong Kong court, a verdict widely criticized as a ‘sham trial’.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has called on the communist authorities to halt the ‘horrific ordeal’ inflicted on the 78-year-old critic of the Beijing government. In response to his sentencing, the British government has taken steps to broaden visa access for Hong Kong residents.

Lai was found guilty of foreign collusion and sedition under a contentious national security law imposed by Beijing.

This sentence, the most severe under the expansive law to date, has been denounced by human rights advocates as tantamount to a ‘death sentence’.

The situation poses a diplomatic challenge for Sir Keir Starmer’s administration, as it follows his recent visit to Beijing where he addressed Mr. Lai’s situation.

Just last week, Sir Keir informed Parliament that he had ‘brought up the issue of Jimmy Lai’ during discussions with President Xi Jinping.

In a statement posted on X by the Foreign Office, Ms Cooper described the prosecution as politically motivated and said Mr Lai had been ‘exercising his right to freedom of expression’.

But shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said: The Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Labour Government should be ashamed of themselves for not securing the release of Jimmy.

British media tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai has been jailed by a Hong Kong court for 20 years

The move by China is embarrassing for Sir Keir Starmer’s government, coming little more than a week after he visited Beijing and discussed Mr Lai’s case.

‘Spineless Starmer gave the Chinese Communist Party their super embassy spy hub and then went to Beijing to kowtow to President Xi begging for Chinese investment.

‘While Starmer came back to Britain bragging about securing a deal for Labubu dolls, Jimmy languishes in prison. Starmer’s failure to stand up to Chinese threats has undermined our interests and our security and he now has no leverage to pressure the Chinese to release Jimmy.’

Downing Street rejected suggestions that engagement with China had failed in light of the sentence, arguing it meant there was a ‘stronger chance of securing a positive outcome’ for him as opposed to ‘just talking into a void’.

The government today also made visas available to thousands more people in Hong Kong.

Adult children of British nationals over there, who were under 18 at the time of Hong Kong’s 1997 handover to China, will now be eligible to apply for the route independently of their parents, the Home Office said.

Their partners and children will also be able to move to the UK under the expanded route.

Ministers estimated around 26,000 additional people would arrive in the UK because of the change over the next five years. 

Mr Lai, who holds a British passport, founded the now-defunct, pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper.

He incurred the wrath of the state by often using his publication as a tool of protest, but he always denied the charges against him.

Campaigners have described Mr Lai’s punishment as ‘effectively a death sentence’

Six former executives of the paper were also jailed today – with sentences between six years and nine months and 10 years.

Lai’s barrister had said he suffers from hypertension and diabetes, among other ailments, but the court said it was ‘not inclined’ to soften the sentence on account of his medical condition.

Ms Cooper said: ‘Beijing’s National Security Law was imposed on Hong Kong to silence China’s critics,’ she said.

‘For the 78-year-old, this is tantamount to a life sentence.

‘I remain deeply concerned for Mr Lai’s health, and I again call on the Hong Kong authorities to end his appalling ordeal and release him on humanitarian grounds, so that he may be reunited with his family.’

The leader of Lai’s international legal team, Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, told the BBC that it had been a ‘show trial from the start – the script is already written’.

Mr Lai’s international legal team was forbidden from defending him in court.

After the sentencing, Gallagher said: ‘Sentencing Jimmy Lai – already aged 78 – to two decades behind bars is an affront to justice, and the culmination of over five years of malicious lawfare against a courageous, elderly British citizen and prisoner of conscience.

‘Now that this sham trial is finally over, we call on leaders from around the world to speak with one voice in their demand for China to free Jimmy Lai so he can come home to his family in London at last.’

Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee Ka-chiu, hailed the sentencing as ‘deeply gratifying’, and described his crimes as ‘heinous’ and ‘utterly despicable’.

Lee wrote in a Facebook post: ‘For a long time, Lai used Apple Daily to poison the minds of citizens, incite hatred, distort facts, deliberately create social division, glorify violence, and openly beg external forces to sanction China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.’

The head of Hong Kong police’s National Security Department also defended Lai’s 20-year sentence as ‘appropriate’.