Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media tycoon Jimmy Lai was convicted Monday in a landmark national security trial that could keep him in prison for life. A panel of three government-approved judges found the 78-year-old guilty of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and publishing seditious material under Beijing’s sweeping national security law.
Lai pleaded not guilty. Lai was arrested in 2020 after mass protests rocked the city.
Hong Kong's High Court 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 https://t.co/whdyL1SZ1U pic.twitter.com/YEzL5eVeS6
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 15, 2025
Prosecutors accused him of urging foreign governments to sanction China and Hong Kong, citing meetings with former U.S. officials and articles published by his now-shuttered newspaper, Apple Daily.
The trial was held without a jury and closely watched by Western governments, including the United States and Britain.
A Hong Kong court has found media tycoon Jimmy Lai guilty of colluding with foreign forces under controversial national security laws. His son Sebastian tells #R4Today the ‘onus is really on the Prime Minister’ to bring him home to the UK.
— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) December 15, 2025
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper says… pic.twitter.com/LJq1NCp1B8
President Trump has raised the case with Chinese leaders. Lai will be sentenced later. The collusion charge carries a possible life sentence.
Also read:
TIPP Staff
