Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai will not appeal his 20-year sentence for national security crimes, his lawyers confirm, ending a high-profile legal battle.

HONG KONG: Pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai will not appeal his national security conviction and 20-year prison sentence.

His legal team confirmed the decision on Friday without providing a reason for the move.

“We have clear and definitive instructions (from Lai) not to lodge an appeal against conviction or sentence,” his lawyers told AFP.

The 78-year-old founder of the defunct Apple Daily newspaper was found guilty in February on charges of foreign collusion and seditious publication.

His sentence is the harshest yet imposed under the national security law Beijing enacted for Hong Kong.

The conviction drew international condemnation from rights groups and foreign governments at the time.

UN rights chief Volker Turk called for the verdict to be “promptly quashed as incompatible with international law”.

US President Donald Trump, who is expected to visit China later this month, has urged Chinese leader Xi Jinping to free Lai.

China rejected the criticism, saying it lodged “solemn representations” with nations that condemned the sentence.

Hong Kong’s leader John Lee lauded the “severe” prison term as a demonstration of the city’s rule of law.

Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai, said the “draconian prison sentence is devastating for our family and life-threatening for my father”.

Eight other defendants, including six Apple Daily executives, were handed jail sentences of up to 10 years in the same case.

 The Sun Malaysia