Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy former Hong Kong media mogul and outspoken critic of Beijing, was convicted Monday in a landmark national security trial, which could send him to prison for the rest of his life.
Three government-vetted judges found Lai, 78, guilty of conspiring with others to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiracy to publish seditious articles. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Lai was arrested in August 2020 under a Beijing-imposed national security law that was implemented following massive anti-government protests in 2019. Lai has spent five years in custody, much of it in solitary confinement, and his family said his health has declined rapidly. He was previously convicted of several lesser offenses related to fraud allegations and his actions in 2019.
Lai’s trial, conducted in a Hong Kong court without a jury, has been closely monitored by the U.S., Britain, the European Union, and political observers as a barometer of media freedom and judicial independence in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
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Former Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Media Mogul Jimmy Lai Convicted in Landmark National Security Trial
12/15/2025
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