（本文是新西兰电台RNZ2月9日转发CNN的报道）
2021年2月1日，在香港终审法院外，传媒大亨黎智英被押送上一辆香港惩教署囚车。当时法官下令他继续还押候审，这是北京于前一年在香港实施全面国家安全法后的一宗重大法律挑战案件。（图片来源：AFP）
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前香港传媒大亨黎智英被判处 20年监禁，为这场持续多年的法律战画上句号。这宗案件已成为北京对这个昔日高度自由的国际金融中心进行全面政治整顿的标志性事件。
现年78岁的白手起家亿万富翁黎智英，是自北京2020年对半自治的香港广泛实施国家安全法以来被起诉的最高知名度政府批评者之一。
这一漫长刑期意味着黎智英要到九十多岁才可能获得假释。此判决很可能在国际社会引发新一轮要求释放他的呼声。这宗具有里程碑意义的审判一直受到西方国家领导人的密切关注，包括美国前总统**Donald Trump**，他曾表示要“把他救出来”。
预计特朗普将在未来数月访问中国，与中国国家主席习近平会晤。黎智英的支持者们预计将游说他在会谈中提及黎智英的案件。
黎智英长期直言批评香港自由空间的收缩——包括向美国高层官员表达相关关切——加上他创办了现已停刊、立场鲜明支持民主的《苹果日报》，早已成为北京的“眼中钉”。
去年12月，经过多年审理，黎智英被裁定 两项国家安全罪名及一项煽动罪成立。
周一宣判时，身穿白色外套、明显消瘦的黎智英微微一笑。开庭前，他双手合十向旁听席致意，并转身望向同样等待判刑的六名前《苹果日报》同事。
这些同事也被判入狱，刑期从 6年9个月至10年不等。《苹果日报》及其关联公司则被罚款 600万港元（约76.7万美元）。
北京和香港特区政府多次驳斥国际社会对黎智英案件的批评，并否认其入狱具有政治动机或是对新闻自由的打压。
国家安全法的实施已彻底改变香港。多名异见人士被监禁，公民社会团体和敢言媒体机构被迫解散，昔日喧闹的政治生态被大幅压缩。
香港及中国中央政府表示，这些措施是在2019年一度演变为暴力的大规模反政府示威后，为“恢复社会稳定”所必须采取的行动。
自上周以来，支持者连续数日排队守候在西九龙法院外，希望在宣判前最后一睹黎智英。
75岁的支持者陈春仪（音译）周四在法院外对CNN表示：“他是香港的一面旗帜。我并不同意他做的所有事情，但我认同他的精神，以及他追求的自由、民主和公义。”
另一位只愿透露名为Andy的支持者说：“黎智英和他的同事值得获得诺贝尔和平奖。”
警方加强了法院外的保安措施，设立封锁线并搜查排队人士。法官亦警告公众不得扰乱庭审秩序，否则将被驱逐出庭。
Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years in prison after landmark national security trial
Media tycoon Jimmy Lai (R) is escorted into a Hong Kong Correctional Services van outside the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong on February 1, 2021, after being ordered to remain in jail while judges consider his fresh bail application, the first major legal challenge to a sweeping national security law Beijing imposed on the city last year. (Photo by AFP)Media tycoon
Jimmy Lai (R) is escorted into a Hong Kong Correctional Services van outside the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong on February 1, 2021. Photo: AFP
Former Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, ending a years-long legal battle that has come to define Beijing’s transformational crackdown on the once-freewheeling financial hub.
The 78-year-old self-made billionaire was among the highest-profile government critics charged since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the semi-autonomous southern city in 2020.
The lengthy sentence – Lai will not be eligible for parole until he is in his late 90s – will likely galvanise international calls for the media mogul’s release in the landmark trial closely watched by Western world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, who previously vowed to “get him out”.
Trump is expected to travel to China in the coming months to meet his counterpart Xi Jinping and many of Lai’s supporters will be lobbying him to raise the jailed media mogul’s case.
Lai’s outspokenness over the Hong Kong’s shrinking freedoms – including to top US officials – and his role as the founder of now-defunct Apple Daily, a fiercely pro-democracy tabloid newspaper, had long made him a thorn in Beijing’s side.
He was found guilty of two national security charges and a sedition charge in December following a years-long court battle.
Lai, looking visibly slim in a white jacket, smiled slightly upon hearing the sentence Monday. Before the court session began, he had put his hands together to greet those sitting in the court gallery and turned to see six former Apple Daily colleagues who were also awaiting sentencing.
Those colleagues were jailed too, receiving sentences ranging from 6 years, 9 months to 10 years behind bars. Apple Daily and its affiliated companies were fined 6 million Hong Kong Dollars (US$767,000).
Both Beijing and Hong Kong’s government have repeatedly rejected international criticism of Lai’s prosecution and dismissed accusations that his jailing was politically motivated or an assault on press freedom.
Beijing’s national security law has transformed Hong Kong, with authorities jailing dozens of dissidents; forcing civil society groups and outspoken media outlets to disband; and neutering the city’s once-raucous political scene.
City and national authorities say their restrictions have “restored stability” following mass anti-government protests in 2019 that turned violent at times.
Supporters had been lining up for days outside the West Kowloon court since last week hoping to catch the last glimpse of Lai.
“He is the flag of Hong Kong,” Chan Chun-yee, 75, who arrived outside the court on Thursday, told CNN. “I don’t agree with everything he did but I aligned with his spirit and the things he pursued, such as freedom, democracy and justice.”
Another supporter, who asked only to be identified as Andy, said: “Lai and his colleagues deserve a Nobel Peace Prize.”
Police ramped up security outside the court complex, setting up cordon lines and searching those lining up. Judges also warned the public not to disturb the court proceeding or face expulsion.
