Hong Kong Has Found The Founder Of A Pro-Democracy Newspaper Guilty Of Threatening National Security
Jimmy Lai is awaiting sentencing in January 2026 and could face up to life in prison.
Hong Kong has found media tycoon and the founder of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily Jimmy Lai guilty of “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” and “sedition” under its National Security Law.
The 78-year-old, who suffers from diabetes and hypertension, has been jailed for more than five years in solitary confinement.
Lai became a vocal critic of the Chinese government after the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing, China, when Chinese government troops armed with assault rifles and tanks killed several thousand student-led pro-democracy demonstrators.
He then founded in 1995 the Apple Daily newspaper, which was highly critical of the Hong Kong government as well as Chinese authorities.
Lai has faced multiple arrests following the 2019 pro-democracy protests that rocked Hong Kong.
Shortly after China introduced the controversial National Security Law in Hong Kong in June 2020, nearly 200 police raided Apple Daily’s headquarters and arrested Lai, along with his two sons and several newspaper editors and directors.
On Dec. 11, 2020, Lai was charged with two counts of “conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign countries or external elements” and “sedition” under the National Security Law.
Hong Kong authorities said the charges were related to the publication of articles in Apple Daily that called on foreign countries to impose sanctions, along with his meetings with US politicians and interviews with overseas media.
He has also been convicted of several lesser offenses related to fraud allegations and his involvement in the 2019 protests.
In February 2021, Lai was denied bail and Apple Daily closed in June 2021 after police raided the newspaper again and rearrested its top editors and directors.
His trial began in December 2023, with proceedings lasting 156 days, including 52 days of Lai's testimony.
Judges called him a “mastermind” of conspiracies designed to destabilize the Chinese government, citing more than 161 articles published in Apple Daily that were deemed “seditious.”
Lai was accused of conspiring with his longtime personal assistant Mark Simon, paralegal Chan Tsz-wah, activist Andy Li, exiled activist Finn Lau and others to commit “collusion with foreign forces”.
He was also accused of being the “mastermind and financial supporter” of an advocacy group, “Stand With Hong Kong, Fight For Freedom” (SWHK), which allegedly lobbied countries to sanction China and Hong Kong following the national security law coming into force, according to Reuters.
Lai had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
On Dec. 15, 2025, Hong Kong’s high court found him guilty on two counts of “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” and “sedition” under the National Security Law.
Rights groups have long called Lai’s trial a “sham trial” and said the court ruling is “the death knell for press freedom in Hong Kong.”
Lai is awaiting sentencing in January 2026 and could face up to life in prison.
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