Are Hong Kong’s dreams of democracy dead? | BBC News

China has sentenced the Hong Kong media tycoon and political activist Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison.

His supporters have called it a death sentence – so are hopes for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement totally dashed?

The UK has condemned China’s prosecution of Mr Lai — who is a British citizen — as politically motivated, and the US has called his sentence "unjust and tragic".

Could Prime Minister Keir Starmer or President Donald Trump intervene on his behalf?

The Global News Podcast’s Celia Hatton, a long-time China correspondent, tells us how Beijing has sought to silence critics like Jimmy Lai, and the diplomatic consequences.

New episodes of the Global News Podcast are published twice a day. You can listen here: https://link.mgln.ai/GNP-YT

And you can find more of our YouTube episodes here: https://bbc.in/GlobalNewsPodcast

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