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A Hong Kong court on Monday convicted pro-democracy activist and media tycoon Jimmy Lai on national security charges that could send him to prison for life, in a landmark verdict widely seen as a decisive blow to press freedom in the special administrative region of China.
Lai, 78, the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, was found guilty of two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed national security law and one count of conspiring to publish seditious material under a colonial-era law dating back to British rule. The court will sentence him at a later date, and he has the right to appeal.
Prosecutors accused Lai of using his newspaper, overseas media appearances and contacts with foreign politicians to campaign for sanctions against Hong Kong and China after the 2019 pro-democracy protests. Judges ruled that Lai used Apple Daily to publish articles intended to incite hatred toward the Hong Kong and Chinese governments and to encourage opposition against them, portraying him as a “mastermind” behind efforts to undermine the authorities.
The verdict followed a 156-day trial that began in December 2023 and was heard by a three-judge panel under special national security procedures. A pre-sentencing mitigation hearing is scheduled for January. Lai faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent press freedom organization, condemned the conviction and called for Lai’s immediate release.
“This sham conviction is a disgraceful act of persecution,” said CPJ Asia-Pacific Director Beh Lih Yi. “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. Jimmy Lai’s only crime is running a newspaper and defending democracy.”
CPJ said Lai’s health has deteriorated during nearly five years in detention, most of it spent in a maximum-security prison. He is currently serving a separate sentence of five years and nine months on fraud charges related to a commercial lease dispute.
Amnesty International also condemned the verdict, calling Lai a prisoner of conscience and describing the case as part of a broader crackdown on freedom of expression in Hong Kong.
Lai has been detained since December 2020 and has previously been convicted in several cases linked to unauthorized assemblies during the 2019 protests. Courts denied him bail in 2021 after ruling that national security cases were exempt from the presumption in favor of release.
In contrast to the criticism from international rights organizations, Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, praised the conviction, saying it affirmed the authority of the law and the city’s core values.
Lee accused Lai of using Apple Daily “to deliberately fuel social conflicts, incite antagonism and hatred, glorify violence, and openly call for foreign sanctions,” and said the law would not tolerate anyone harming the city “under the guise of advocating for human rights, democracy, and freedom.”
The United States and the United Kingdom have both called for Lai’s release.
Lai, a British national, founded Apple Daily in 1995, building it into one of Hong Kong’s most influential pro-democracy newspapers. Authorities raided its newsroom in 2020, the first time the national security law was used against a media outlet, and later froze its assets. The paper shut down in June 2021.
Following the verdict, Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai, said he was “heartbroken” by his father’s declining health and urged Britain to take stronger action.
“It’s time to back words with action and make my father’s release a condition for closer ties with China,” he told reporters in London.
