Updated on: December 15, 2025 / 5:36 AM EST / CBS/AP
Hong Kong — Jimmy Lai, the 78-year-old pro-democracy media tycoon and vocal critic of Beijing, was convicted Monday in a landmark national security case that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life. A panel of three judges found Lai guilty of conspiring to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security and of conspiring to publish seditious articles; he had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Lai was arrested in August 2020 under a Beijing-imposed national security law enacted after mass anti-government protests in 2019. He has spent roughly five years in custody, much of it in solitary confinement, and his lawyers and family say he has grown frailer during detention. He has previously been convicted on lesser offenses.
The trial, held without a jury, was closely watched by the United States, Britain, the European Union and international observers as a test of media freedom and judicial independence in the former British colony. Judge Esther Toh read an 855-page verdict in which the court said Lai had repeatedly invited the U.S. to help topple the Chinese government under the pretext of helping Hong Kong people.
Defense lawyers acknowledged that Lai had called for sanctions before the national security law took effect but argued he stopped doing so to comply with the law. The judges concluded Lai had maintained an intent to destabilize the Chinese Communist Party, albeit sometimes in less explicit ways, and described him as the mastermind of the alleged conspiracies. They said portions of Lai’s evidence were contradictory or unreliable, and that the only reasonable inference from the record was that his aim was the downfall of the Communist Party, even at the expense of people in China and Hong Kong.
Family members in the courtroom included Lai’s wife and son, and Hong Kong’s Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen attended. Lai pressed his lips together and nodded to his relatives before being escorted from the dock by guards.
The verdict has diplomatic implications. The case has drawn attention from foreign leaders and governments; the U.K. government, citing Lai’s British citizenship, has said securing his release is a priority. The founder of the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily will be sentenced at a later date. The collusion charge carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Mitigation hearings for Lai and co-defendants were scheduled to begin Jan. 12.
Apple Daily, once a loud critic of Hong Kong’s government and Beijing, was forced to close in 2021 after police raided its newsroom, arrested senior staff and froze its assets. Prosecutors said Lai conspired with senior Apple Daily executives and others to solicit foreign sanctions, blockades or other hostile acts against Hong Kong or China. They highlighted Lai’s meetings with former U.S. officials, including Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo, in July 2019 amid the protests, and submitted 161 publications, including Apple Daily pieces, social media posts and text messages as evidence.
Lai testified for 52 days, insisting he had not called for foreign sanctions after the security law took effect and asserting protections for freedom of expression. His legal team argued that his publications were legitimate journalism.
Health concerns were a recurring feature of the case. During the trial, Lai’s lawyers said he experienced heart palpitations; his daughter Claire told The Associated Press he had weakened, lost some nails and teeth, and suffered infections, chronic back pain, diabetes, heart problems and high blood pressure. “His spirit is strong but his body is failing,” she said. After the verdict, defense lawyer Robert Pang said Lai was in okay spirits while the team reviewed the judgment.
Hong Kong authorities said medical checks after Lai’s complaints found no abnormalities and that the medical care he received was adequate. Hong Kong leader John Lee accused Lai of harming the country’s fundamental interests and described his intentions as malicious. Steve Li, chief superintendent of the Hong Kong police National Security Department, said outside the court, “Lai’s conviction is justice served.” In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun condemned foreign criticism of Hong Kong’s judiciary and urged respect for the city’s legal system.
Dozens of people queued before dawn outside the court to secure seats. Former Apple Daily employee Tammy Cheung, who arrived at 5 a.m., said she wanted to see Lai and learn about his condition; she added she felt the process had been rushed because the verdict date was announced only the previous Friday but said she was relieved the case was nearing a conclusion.
Rights organizations sharply criticized the verdict. Reporters Without Borders called the trial an attack on press freedom, saying it was not just an individual on trial but journalism itself. Amnesty International said the conviction felt like a “death knell for press freedom in Hong Kong,” arguing Lai was jailed for criticizing the government. Lai’s son Sebastien, speaking in London, urged that his father’s release be made a precondition for closer relations with China.
Lai has faced multiple legal actions: in 2022 he was sentenced to five years and nine months on fraud charges related to lease violations, in addition to other sentences connected to the 2019 protests.