HK tycoon gets 13-mth prison sentence
HONG KONG: A Hong Kong court on Monday sentenced activist and business tycoon Jimmy Lai to 13 months in jail for urging participation in last year’s banned Tiananmen vigil, amid a crackdown by Chinese authorities that has rolled back the semi-autonomous city’s civil liberties.
The district court convicted seven others on similar charges and handed out sentences of up to 14 months.
Hong Kong’s government has banned the candlelight vigil for the past two years on pandemic control grounds, although it is widely believed the ban is intended to be permanent as authorities look to squelch the city’s pro-democracy movement.
Lai, the founder of the nowshuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, has already been jailed for taking part in prodemocracy protests for which he will serve a total of 20 months.
In the latest case, he was convicted on Thursday of inciting others to take part in the unauthorised assembly to memorialise those killed in the army’s bloody crackdown on studentled pro-democracy protests that centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Two other defendants convicted along with Lai, lawyer Chow Hang-tung and former reporter Gwyneth Ho, were sentenced to 12 and six months respectively for participating in the vigil. Chow was also sentenced for inciting others to take part.
The trio had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges. Others sentenced on Monday included Lee Cheuk-yan, the former chairman of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.
Lee received 14 months for organising last year’s unauthorised assembly, during which thousands of people gathered to light candles and sing songs in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park despite police warnings that they may be breaking the law.
The remainder were given sentences ranging from four months, two weeks, to nine months. ‘Chinese invasion would be difficult to achieve’
A full Chinese invasion of Taiwan with troops landed and ports and airports seized would be very difficult to achieve due to problems China would have in landing and supplying troops, Taiwan’s defence ministry said in its latest threat assessment as China steps up military activities near Taiwan to pressure it to accept Chinese rule.
In a report to lawmakers, Taiwan’s defence ministry said China’s transport capacity was at present limited, it would not be able to land all its forces in one go, and would have to rely on “non-standard” roll-on, roll-off ships that would need to use port facilities and transport aircraft that would need airports.