HK TYCOON JIMMY LAI JAILED AGAIN

Hong Kong, May 28: Jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai was among eight democracy activists handed new prison sentences on Friday for attending protests on the 70th anniversary of the founding of communist China that were followed by a sweeping crackdown.

Lai, who is already behind bars for taking part in earlier protests, was given 14 months after pleading guilty to organising an unlawful assembly on October 1,

2019.

He will now have to serve a total of 20 months for his multiple protest convictions.

Seven other leading activists, including 25year-old youth campaigner Figo Chan, as well as former lawmakers Lee Cheuk-yan and Leung Kwok-hung, were also given new jail terms.

Some flashed “victory” hand signals on their way to court in a police van.

The new sentences are the latest in a relentless and successful campaign by China to smother dissent and dismantle Hong Kong’s democracy movement.

The finance hub was convulsed by months of huge and often violent pro-democracy protests in 2019 in the most serious challenge to Beijing's rule since the city’s 1997 handover. The clashes with police on China’s October 1 National Day were some of the worst of that period. —