Arriving in Hong Kong as a penniless 12-year-old stowaway from southern China, Jimmy Lai sought only freedom and a future. At the time, Lai could never have imagined how his life would become forever intertwined with this former British colony.
"I'll sink with the ship, because this place gives me everything," said Lai in an interview about Hong Kong with DW a few months before he was taken into custody in December 2020. He was one of the first high-profile figures to be targeted under a "national security law" imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing following a crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
Beijing had said the law would restore Hong Kong "from chaos to order" after demonstrations in 2019 opposing an extradition bill morphed into massive protests against Beijing encroaching on Hong Kong's civil liberties.
Since then, the pro-democracy media mogul has spent more than 2,000 days in solitary confinement in Hong Kong's maximum-security Stanley Prison.
Lai's years-long trial ended this February, when the 78-year-old was sentenced to 20 years in prison for "colluding with foreign forces." While he had pleaded not guilty to all charges, his legal team said he will not appeal.
