Lai supporters see him as freedom fighter, Beijing sees him as protest mastermind, sanctions advocate
Hong Kong’s High Court on Monday found tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai guilty of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces in the city’s highest-profile trial under a China-imposed national security law that could see him jailed for life.
The landmark case has drawn international scrutiny of Hong Kong’s judicial independence amid a years-long crackdown on rights and freedoms in the global financial hub after 2019 pro-democracy protests that Beijing saw as a challenge to its rule.
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. Chinese authorities have rejected accusations of eroding the city’s rule of law.
“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 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.
Sentencing expected next year
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 the 2019 protests.
A pre-sentencing hearing where Lai can plead for lenience is scheduled for January 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 on Monday they welcomed the verdict.
“The Judiciary is confident and unafraid of any intimidation and firmly discharges its responsibility to safeguard national security,” the city’s leader 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.
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The verdict bookends a year that marked the essential disappearance of Hong Kong’s democratic opposition under pressure from Beijing. The Democratic Party voted to disband on Sunday.
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.
Rights groups criticise the verdict
Lai’s trial began in December 2023 in the former British colony that reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, with the verdict seen as a potential fresh diplomatic flashpoint.
US President Donald Trump raised Lai’s case with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a meeting in October and has said he would do his utmost to “save” Lai.
Britain condemned Lai’s “politically-motivated prosecution” in a statement on Monday by its foreign office, calling for his immediate release.
China’s foreign ministry said it “deplores” countries smearing Hong Kong’s justice system, urging respect for China’s sovereignty.
Beh Lih Yi, Asia-Pacific director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, called the verdict a “sham conviction” and “a disgraceful act of persecution”.
“The ruling underscores Hong Kong’s utter contempt for press freedom,” she said. “Jimmy Lai’s only crime is running a newspaper and defending democracy”.
Other groups, such as Amnesty International, and pro-democracy activists who fled the city after the protests fearing prosecution have also condemned the verdict.
The Chinese and Hong Kong governments have said his trial was “fair and just” and that the national security law treats all equally. They have said no freedoms are absolute when it comes to safeguarding national security.
Lai’s family say his health has worsened after more than 1,800 days in solitary confinement, and that he suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and heart palpitations.
His verdict comes at a delicate moment for Hong Kong, where residents have been mourning after a fire last month killed at least 160 people in one of the worst blazes in a residential complex globally in recent years.
Authorities have warned they would crack down on anyone who tried to use the fire to “plunge Hong Kong back into the chaos” of 2019.
After the verdict, China’s national security office in Hong Kong called Lai a “pawn of external anti-China forces” who attempted a “colour revolution” in the city.
“We strongly condemn the political manipulation of Hong Kong by a small number of Western politicians and anti-China media under the guise of ‘human rights’ and ‘freedom’, openly exonerating Jimmy Lai,” it said in a statement.
