Jimmy Lai, a U.K. citizen and founder of Apple Daily, was convicted in Hong Kong of conspiring with foreign forces and publishing seditious material after the 2020 national security law. Arrested in August 2020, his bail was later revoked and he has been detained since while many of his assets were frozen. Despite opportunities to leave, Lai stayed in Hong Kong to spotlight the erosion of civil liberties and to force an international reckoning over the city’s future.
Jimmy Lai Could Have Left Hong Kong — He Stayed to Expose the Cost of Lost Freedoms
Jimmy Lai Could Have Fled Hong Kong and Avoided Prison. He Chose To Be a Martyr for Freedom Instead.
Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong media tycoon and founder of Apple Daily, could have used his international ties to leave the city as Beijing tightened its grip. Instead, he stayed — a deliberate choice that turned him into a symbol of resistance and exposed the consequences of Hong Kong’s shrinking liberties.
From Factory Floors to Outspoken Publisher
Born in mainland China, Lai escaped to Hong Kong at age 12 by hiding beneath a fishing boat. He built a garment business after years working and sleeping in factories, then later launched several news ventures without formal media training. Apple Daily became one of the most prominent pro-democracy outlets in Hong Kong and a persistent critic of Beijing’s growing influence.
Arrest, Conviction and the National Security Law
Earlier this week Lai was convicted in Hong Kong of two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and one count of publishing seditious material — charges that relate directly to his pro-democracy advocacy. He was first arrested in August 2020 after the city adopted a sweeping national security law intended to curb dissent. Lai was released on bail that month but had his bail revoked four months later and has remained in custody since. Authorities also froze many of his assets; he was once considered a billionaire.
"Everything I have was given to me by Hong Kong. I won't be leaving. I'm going to stay here and fight to the bitter end," Lai told Radio Free Asia in June 2020.
Why He Stayed
Lai had options. He is a citizen of the United Kingdom (U.K.) and could have relocated abroad with family or used his connections to live elsewhere. Friends and colleagues reportedly urged him to leave as the national security law loomed. He refused, saying his presence would help show the world what happens when an authoritarian government criminalizes dissent and curtails civil liberties.
His Role On the World Stage
Beyond publishing, Lai used his platform to seek international support for Hong Kong’s freedoms — he testified that he met with senior U.S. officials, including former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to ask them to speak up for the city. His life story — fleeing persecution in the mainland (his mother was once jailed as a "class enemy"), rising from factory labor to running factories, then launching influential media — makes him a powerful messenger about the stakes for Hong Kong’s future.
The case raises urgent questions about the direction of Hong Kong governance and whether the city will retain the civil liberties that once distinguished it from the mainland. Lai’s decision to remain has focused international attention on the human cost of those changes.
