Chinese biophysicist Dr. He Jiankui has been sentenced to three years in prison for creating the world’s first genetically-modified humans.

This sentence was passed on December 30th after a secret trial held in the city of Shenzhen, and comes with an additional fine of 3 million yuan ($430,000). Dr. He has also been added to a Chinese national blacklist that bars from ever using any Assisted Reproductive Technologies.

Last year on November 25th, Dr. He caused uproar after announcing the birth of Lulu and Nana, two twin girls who he claimed were born immune to HIV because he had used gene-editing tool CRISPR to modify their embryos. A few days later at a gene-editing conference held in Hong Kong, Dr. He revealed that there was also a second pregnancy from his CRISPR experiments. This pregnancy came to term in mid-July of this year, and was confirmed today by Chinese state media when it made public Dr. He’s sentencing by the Shenzhen court.

Dr. He, who earlier this year was nominated by CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna for TIME’s 100 most influential people of 2019, was sentenced with two other colleagues named Zhang Renli and Qin Jinzhou. Renli has been sentenced to two years in prison with a 1 million yuan fine, and Jinzhou has received a suspended sentence of 18 months with a 500,000 yuan fine.

According to Chinese state media, all three scientists pleaded guilty to ‘practicing illegal medical practice’ and ‘pursuing fame and fortune.’

The sentencing of Dr. He, which comes after he spent a year under house arrest, has all the theatrics of a kangaroo court – as no evidence used to sentence him has been made public. It is all a sham. Beijing, whose prime objective is perception, is simply doing damage control so as to cover up what it considers an embarrassment. This sham sentencing does not represent justice in any form, and all Western bioethicists who are applauding it are to blame for ruining the lives of Dr. He and his colleagues.

Media outrage and the sanctimonious shrieking of virtue-signalling bioethicists is what made the perception-obsessed government of China imprison Dr. He Jiankui. And contrary to what the torch-wielding bioethicists might think, Dr. He’s imprisonment will not dissuade others from carrying out human gene-editing, it will simply push human gene-editing further underground and away from mainstream industry and academic institutions. It does really look like as far human gene-editing goes, the 2020s will indeed be a decade of underground biohacking.

The imprisonment of Dr. He Jiankui is not the only time this year when CRISPR and the law collided. In July, the first CRISPR law was passed in America. Known as Senate Bill 180, it is an anti-biohacking bill that was passed in California and it dictates that anyone who sells DIY-CRISPR kits should have labeling on the packaging which states that the kits are not for human use or self-administration. What is more disturbing than the fact that none of the CRISPR kits on the market have ever been marketed for human use, is that this labeling stipulation was a legal compromise because the author of the bill, a Republican senator named Ling Ling Chang, initially wanted all DIY-CRISPR kits banned, but after strong objections from the California Life Sciences Association, Senator Chang had to settle for the labeling stipulation.

Even more sinister is the fact that while the nanny State of California was once again targeting biohackers with Senate Bill 180, it did nothing to mainstream biotech companies like Synthego which provided Dr. He Jiankui with the reagents that he used to create his CRISPR babies.