Créditos:

0:03  Report by / Ralf Jäckel

Guión:

00 
Hong Kong’s most vocal Beijing critic, Jimmy Lai, arrived at court under tight security.

His supporters waited for hours outside, as judges handed down Lai's 20 year sentence.

The ruling was immediately condemned by those gathered, calling it part of a wider crackdown on press freedom.

++VoxPops++ 
Female 01 ENG
No more freedom in HongKong now. 
Female 02 ENG
You are free to eat, you are free to go, but you are not free to express yourself.
Male 01 
"Hong Kong situation now is like today’s weather - grey and covered with dark clouds. Apple Daily was the only platform which carried the voice of the Hongkongers."

Archive footage
78‑year‑old Lai founded the now‑defunct Apple Daily newspaper 
and was among the first high‑profile figures arrested under the National Security Law, 
imposed by Beijing after months of street protests.

Archive footage
Convicted in December for conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and publishing seditious materials. Lai has already spent more than five years in custody - much of it in solitary confinement.

Rights groups have criticized his punishment, describing it as 'effectively a death sentence' - a feeling echoed by his supporters.

7. (SOUNDBITE) (Cantonese) UNIDENTIFIED SUPPORTER OF LAI, SAYING:
“I really wish he would apply for medical parole, because even one day of imprisonment like this is unjust. It is harmful to his mind and health. I do wish his family would apply for medical parole for him.”

The ruling has also drawn international condemnation, with the UK and the US calling for Lai’s immediate release.

But China's Foreign Ministry says his case was 'legitimate, and legal' and Lai deserved to be severely ⁠punished ‍under the law.

++END++ 01:58