Jimmy Lai, 78, was convicted on two national security counts and a sedition charge after a two-year trial widely seen as a measure of Hong Kong’s shrinking political space. Lai — founder of the pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily and a British citizen — faces the prospect of life imprisonment and has already spent more than 1,800 days in custody. The verdict has prompted condemnation from his family and UK officials and renewed concerns about the national security law’s impact on Hong Kong’s legal traditions and civil society.
Jimmy Lai Convicted in Landmark Hong Kong National Security Trial — Faces Possible Life Sentence
People wait outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building in Hong Kong on December 14, 2025, ahead of Lai's verdict. - Leung Man Hei/AFP/Getty Images
Former Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, 78, has been convicted on two national security charges and an additional sedition count after a high-profile, two-year trial that many observers view as a test of Hong Kong’s freedoms under Beijing’s rule.
Verdict and Charges
Judges found Lai guilty of collusion with foreign forces and other national security offences under the sweeping law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020. The court determined Lai played a central role in the alleged conspiracies, citing his lobbying of US officials, WhatsApp exchanges with pro-democracy activists and a May 2020 New York Times opinion piece proposing measures to pressure China. Collusion under the national security law can carry a life sentence; the court will announce a sentencing date later.
Background
Lai founded the pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, which was forced to close in 2021 amid raids and asset freezes. A self-made billionaire born in mainland China and raised in British Hong Kong, Lai rose from factory work to media prominence and became a leading and outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party. He holds British citizenship.
Trial Details and Evidence
Prosecutors presented evidence that included private messages, public advocacy and meetings with US politicians during the Trump administration. The judges said there was "no doubt" Lai harboured long-standing opposition to the PRC and that his actions amounted to efforts to seek the party’s downfall. Lai had pleaded not guilty and defended his actions as political expression and advocacy for Hong Kong’s autonomy.
Lai's children, Sebastien Lai (right) and Claire Lai (left), during a visit to the office of Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Washington, DC on December 2, 2025. - Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Health, Detention and Previous Sentences
Lai has been held in custody since late 2020 and has spent more than 1,800 days in a maximum-security prison, much of it reportedly in solitary confinement. In 2022 he received a separate sentence of five years and nine months on unrelated fraud charges. Defence lawyers and family members have expressed deep concern about his health — citing palpitations, light-headedness and diabetes — while Hong Kong authorities say he has received adequate medical care and that some isolation was at his own request.
Domestic and International Reaction
The conviction drew condemnation from Lai’s family and British officials. At a London news conference, his son Sebastian urged the UK to take stronger, concrete measures to secure his father’s release. UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper described the verdict as "politically motivated." Chinese and Hong Kong authorities rejected external interference, saying they will enforce the law to safeguard national security.
Broader Context
Critics say the national security law has fundamentally reshaped Hong Kong’s legal and civic landscape: dozens of activists and politicians have been jailed, civil society groups and independent media have been forced to disband, and national security trials have been heard by panels of designated judges rather than juries — a departure from prior common-law practice. Officials maintain the law has "restored stability" after the 2019 protests.
"Now it’s time to put action behind words, and make my father’s release a precondition to closer relationships with China," Sebastian Lai said at a London news conference.
The court has yet to set a sentencing date. For now, Lai remains in custody as legal and diplomatic responses continue to unfold.
