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U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Hong Kong should free Lai \"on humanitarian grounds\" and the UK government has also pledged to \"rapidly engage further\" with Beijing. Trump said back in December that he asked President Xi Jinping to consider Lai’s release, and the U.S. ambassador to China David Perdue has said Lai’s case is part of “ongoing discussions” with the Chinese side.

The sentence has been widely condemned by human rights groups, with Human Rights Watch calling the length of the sentence \"effectively a death sentence.\"

Amnesty International said it was \"another grim milestone in Hong Kong’s transformation from a city governed by the rule of law to one ruled by fear.\"

Meanwhile, Beijing and Hong Kong officials welcomed the penalty, with Hong Kong’s leader John Lee saying Lai deserved the 20-year prison sentence for his \"evil deeds.\"

China’s foreign ministry on Monday called the punishment \"legitimate and reasonable.\"

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