Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai will not appeal outcome in landmark security case | CNN

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai will not appeal against his conviction and 20-year jail term for collusion with ​foreign forces and sedition, his lawyer said on Friday, after a landmark case ‌that sparked international criticism. The founder of the now-shuttered pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, Lai, 78, was one of the most outspoken critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. A nearly five-year legal saga ended with his sentencing in ​February following a December conviction on two counts of conspiracy to collude with ​foreign forces and one count of publishing seditious materials. A member of Lai’s ⁠domestic legal team told Reuters his client would not appeal the conviction and sentencing, which ​drew criticism from countries such as Britain and the United States. “We can confirm we have ​clear and definitive instructions not to lodge an appeal against conviction or sentence,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity, but gave no reason for the decision. Separately, Fung Wai-kong, the former editor-in-chief of the ​paper’s English news section, launched an appeal on Monday against his 10-year jail term in ​the same national security case. Laiâ€

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