Six staffers from HK's Apple Daily plead guilty to foreign collusion

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai and the firms have pleaded not guilty. Their trial is due to begin in December. - AFP

HONG KONG (AFP): Six senior staffers from Hong Kong's shuttered pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily pleaded guilty to colluding with foreign forces on Tuesday (Nov 22), and could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Their convictions were part of a landmark case in which the city's sweeping national security law, imposed by Beijing in 2020 to crush dissent, was used against a news organisation and its staff for the first time.