Who is Jimmy Lai, the awkward millionaire who received a record prison sentence for criticizing China

Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong's best-known media tycoon and a vocal critic of China, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Monday, meaning he may not be released until the age of 98, after an impressive life in which he single-handedly rose from poverty to become a symbol of pro-democracy forces.

The sentence is the latest blow to a self-made millionaire who has refused to shut up after Beijing's crackdown on mass protests in Hong Kong in 2019. Lai, now 78, has continued to speak out about the risks of authoritarianism both domestically in Hong Kong and internationally.

Known for his massive, boxer-like build, straight-talking and uncompromising nature, Lai used his wealth to fund Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, while his tabloid, Apple Daily, championed liberal causes and never hesitated to criticize the authorities, until it was closed in 2021 following police raids.

These raids took place after Beijing imposed the so-called national security law in Hong Kong, and Lai was arrested shortly afterwards on charges of conspiring with foreign forces and separatism.

Speaking before his arrest, Lai told Reuters he would “fight until the last day”.

Lai, 78, has been in detention for more than five years, much of that time in solitary confinement, and his health has deteriorated.

A devout Catholic, Lai was held in a cell with a small window facing a corridor, according to his family. Those close to him say his faith helped him take his fight to court against the Chinese Communist Party as well.

Cardinal Joseph Zen, 94, a prominent advocate of democracy and a prominent leader of the Catholic Church, used to visit Lai in prison.

Lai's story — from poverty to riches and then to defiance — is emblematic of Hong Kong, a former British colony returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. Hong Kong's population has long prided itself on its spirit of resilience and initiative, but its attachment to liberal Western values ​​ultimately proved too much for Beijing.

Jimmy Lai's early years

A rowdy youth barely eking out a living on the streets of Guangzhou in southern China, Lai fled to Hong Kong in 1961, hiding in the hold of a fishing boat. The penniless teenager would later end up running his own factory and building Giordano, a popular clothing chain.

The June 1989 massacre, when Chinese army tanks and troops killed pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square, was a turning point for Lai, pushing him further into activism and journalism.

In 1990 he founded the weekly magazine Next Magazine, and after Giordano stores in mainland China were “blacklisted” in the mid-1990s due to his activism, Lai sold the business and used the proceeds to launch Apple Daily in 1995.

The combative tabloid combined crime news with sex scandals, horse racing tips and investigations into Hong Kong and China's elites, becoming an instant hit.

Lai signed a column calling Li Peng, China's premier at the time, believed to be part of the group of officials responsible for the Tiananmen crackdown, “the son of a turtle egg” — a highly offensive insult in China. He later called China's current leader, Xi Jinping, a “dictator.”

“The more information you have, the better you understand what's going on,” Lai told the court. “The freer you are,” he pointed out.

The media magnate has been in the spotlight since the protests that broke out in Hong Kong in 2014

After taking control of Hong Kong in 1997, Beijing promised broad freedoms and a high degree of autonomy under the “one country, two systems” model of governance. But critics, including Lai, said the ongoing crackdown under the guise of national security had eroded those commitments.

In 2014, during the “Umbrella Movement”, when highways were occupied by protesters for 79 days in an attempt to achieve full democracy, Lai was among those arrested, but managed to escape jail.

But in 2019, when millions demonstrated against China's tightening control of Hong Kong, state media called him “a force of evil, not a hero of democracy.”

Lai declared then: “We have to be flexible and innovative and patient – but persistent.”

In sentencing, the three judges wrote that the unprecedented sentence they handed down was also due to the fact that he was the “brains” and driving force behind what the magistrates called efforts to conspire with foreign forces.

A judge reprimanded Lai for describing himself as a 'political prisoner'

Once listed by Forbes magazine as one of the 40 richest people in Hong Kong with a fortune of HK$1.2 billion ($154 million) in 2008, Lai had assets and shares in his media company Next Digital frozen in 2021, which blocked cash flow and eventually led to its closure.

During the trial, Lai repeatedly referred to himself as a “political prisoner”. This drew a rebuke from one of the judges, who said Lai was in court to answer a criminal charge. Lai said he had the right to disagree.

Although he said his fight for democracy was unlikely to have a good outcome for him, Lai called the sacrifice an “honor”. His family, including his six children from two marriages, supported him throughout the process.

His wife Teresa was photographed in October with one of the couple's daughters meeting Pope Leo in St Peter's Square in the Vatican, dressed in formal black attire, amid growing concerns about Lai's health.

“Our father was strong when he entered detention, and mentally he still is, but physically he is significantly weaker now,” his daughter Claire told Reuters. She said his father suffers from back pain, diabetes, heart palpitations and “significantly higher” blood pressure than a year ago.

“The road to court and long trials are already very difficult, but he was aggressively cross-examined and attacked by both the judges and the prosecution,” she added. “All they have shown, however, is that my father is a man who loves God, loves truth, loves freedom and loves his family,” she emphasized.