(FILES) Millionaire media tycoon Jimmy Lai poses during an interview with AFP at the Next Digital offices in Hong Kong on June 16, 2020. Britain condemned on December 15, 2025, the "politically motivated prosecution" of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, after he was found guilty on three charges in his national security trial. (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP)
HONG Kong’s High Court has found tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai (pic) guilty of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces in the city’s highest-profile trial under a national security law that could see him jailed for life.
While 78-year-old Lai’s supporters see him as a freedom fighter, Beijing sees him as a mastermind of the protests and a conspirator advocating for US sanctions against Hong Kong and the mainland.
“There is no doubt” that Lai “had harboured his resentment and hatred of” China for many of his adult years, Judge Esther Toh told a packed courtroom yesterday as the tycoon, wearing a pale green jumper and a grey jacket, sat with his arms folded.
The two other judges in his case were Alex Lee and Susana D’Almada Remedios.
Lai, the founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper and one of the most prominent critics of China’s Communist Party leadership, has already spent five years in jail, facing a slew of litigation under the sweeping security legislation that Beijing enacted in response to pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, a global financial hub, in 2019.
A pre-sentencing hearing where Lai can plead for lenience is scheduled for Jan 12.
His lawyer Steven Kwan said Lai will decide whether to appeal after the sentencing.
Hong Kong leader John Lee and national security police chief Steve Li told reporters yesterday that they welcomed the court’s verdict.
“The judiciary is confident and unafraid of any intimidation and firmly discharges its responsibility to safeguard national security,” Lee said at the airport before a regular visit to Beijing.
Lai, who suffers from health issues including diabetes and high blood pressure, was found guilty on two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, and one of conspiracy to publish seditious material.
He had pleaded not guilty on all counts.
Outside the court, people overnight formed a queue more than a block long, some with camping gear, seeking to attend the verdict.
Police were monitoring the area around the building.
Lai’s trial began in December 2023 in the former British colony that reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.
The Chinese and Hong Kong governments have said his trial was “fair and just” and that the national security law treats all equally. — Reuters
