HONG KONG — Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai was found guilty Monday on two counts of foreign collusion and one count of seditious publication, a landmark verdict under Hong Kong’s national security law that could send the 78-year-old founder of the shuttered Apple Daily newspaper to prison for life.
Lai, who has been jailed since 2020, listened impassively with folded arms as a panel of national security judges delivered the verdict in one of the Chinese territory’s most closely watched trials since Beijing imposed the sweeping law after the city’s 2019 protests. Sentencing will occur later. He can appeal.
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Prosecutors argued Lai masterminded appeals for foreign governments to impose “sanctions or blockade” or take “hostile activities” against Hong Kong or China, and that Apple Daily publications and online programs he led “excited disaffection” against the government. In their written reasoning, the judges said Lai had long considered what leverage the United States could bring to bear on China, predating the security law.
Authorities cited 161 Apple Daily items — including Lai-bylined opinion pieces and his talk shows — as seditious under a colonial-era statute. Apple Daily, at one time Hong Kong’s most outspoken pro-democracy tabloid, was forced to close in 2021 after police raids and asset freezes. Six of Lai’s former executives, charged as co-defendants, have already pleaded guilty.
Lai’s conviction underscores the widening gulf between China and many Western governments over Hong Kong’s political trajectory. The British government has repeatedly called the prosecution of Lai, a British citizen, “politically motivated.” Press freedom advocates condemned Monday’s ruling. “The ruling underscores Hong Kong’s utter contempt for press freedom, which is supposed to be protected under the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law,” Beh Lih Yi, Asia-Pacific director at the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement.
China said it “firmly supports” Hong Kong in “safeguarding national security” and combating criminal acts. Rights groups in Britain pressed Prime Minister Keir Starmer to seek Lai’s release.
Outside West Kowloon Law Courts, dozens of police officers stood guard and an armored car was stationed nearby. Representatives from the United States, the European Union and France were among those lining up to observe. “We’re here to observe … to signal close interest in these cases,” Matthias Kaufmann, deputy head of the EU Office to Hong Kong and Macao, said before entering court.
Lai’s wife, Teresa, and his son, Lai Shun-yan, attended, along with veteran figures from the city’s pro-democracy movement, including Cardinal Joseph Zen and former legislator Emily Lau. A small group of supporters gathered at dawn. “I really want to see what’s happening with ‘the boss,’ to see if his health has deteriorated,” said Tammy Cheung, who worked at Apple Daily for nearly two decades.
Lai’s family has voiced concern about his condition, saying he has lost weight and has visible decay to his nails and teeth while in custody. The Hong Kong government said he has received “adequate and comprehensive” care and that there were “no complaints” on file. Authorities confirmed he has been held in solitary confinement, adding it has “all along been made at his own request.”
Lai, who once called himself a “born rebel,” made his fortune in clothing before building a media empire that openly challenged the Chinese Communist Party and advocated for democratic rights in Hong Kong. He has denied seeking to manipulate other countries’ foreign policies and has said Apple Daily stood for Hong Kong’s core values: the rule of law, freedom of speech and religion, and the pursuit of democracy.
Beijing introduced the national security law in mid-2020 after months of mass demonstrations, arguing it was necessary to restore order. Critics say the statute — coupled with the revival of colonial-era sedition provisions — has chilled dissent and gutted the civil liberties promised under Hong Kong’s Basic Law and the “one country, two systems” framework.
With the guilty verdict in place, Lai faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The court did not set a date for sentencing.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
