Jail sentences ranging from six years and three months to 10 years were handed down to eight co-defendants of Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai in his national security trial.

The court adopted a starting point of 15 years’ imprisonment for the charge of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces.

All eight co-defendants had pleaded guilty.

Three former Apple Daily staffers who did not assist the prosecution in the case each received a 10-year jail term.

The judges said editor-in-chief Ryan Law, executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung and editorial writer Fung Wai-kong were only "entitled to the customary one-third discount for their timely plea".

"They did not assist the authorities nor did they give evidence for the prosecution," said the bench.

"Their sentences are respectively reduced to 10 years’ imprisonment which is the statutory minimum."

Five others, three of them former Apple Daily staffers, became prosecution witnesses and had their sentences reduced further.

Paralegal Wayland Chan was given a term of six years and three months for giving "important evidence" in the trial that was "crucial for the successful conviction of Lai", the judges ruled.

Citing former publisher Cheung Kim-hung's donations to various groups, including the Apple Daily Charitable Foundation, the bench found that he had a "positive good character" and sentenced him to six years and nine months.

Lawyers for Chan and Cheung had argued during mitigation that their clients should be classified as a "supergrass", warranting a two-thirds reduction.

But the bench said none of the accomplice witnesses should be considered as a "supergrass".

The judges cited a previous case in which a "supergrass" is defined as "the ultimate form of assistance and cooperation" that usually puts the informants or their families at significant risk.

"In the present case, the materials before us are insufficient to suggest that any of the accomplice witnesses was facing 'an inevitable and justifiable fear for the safety and security of themselves or their family members'," they said.

The judges handed down a sentence of seven years to former Apple Daily associate publisher Chan Pui-man, citing her work with the Apple Daily Charitable Foundation.

Editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee received a jail term of seven years and three months on "humanitarian grounds" due to family reasons.

Former activist Andy Li was also jailed for seven years and three months, with the court pointing to his "full cooperation with the law enforcement authorities" before Wayland Chan had expressed his willingness to assist the prosecution.