Hong Kong convicts Jimmy Lai in landmark national security trial

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Hong Kong’s High Court has convicted billionaire media mogul Jimmy Lai on national security charges, in the most closely watched trial since Beijing’s crackdown on the city’s pro-democracy movement six years ago.

The trial is seen inside and outside Hong Kong as a measure of political and media freedoms in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, and has been a source of tension between Beijing and the West.

Lai, who is 78 years old and holds British citizenship, faced charges of conspiracy to commit sedition and collusion with foreign parties, which he denied. He faces a life sentence.

The court said on Monday that it would announce a sentencing date as soon as possible, after a mitigation hearing next month.

During the 156-day trial, prosecutors sought to paint Lai as the main instigator of the 2019 pro-democracy movement in the city and accused him of working with foreign politicians, especially in the United States, to impose sanctions on China and Hong Kong.

He was charged with two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiracy to disseminate seditious material through his newspaper, the pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, which was shut down in 2021. The collusion charges were imposed under the National Security law (NSL) that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020.

“The only reasonable inference we can draw…is that the first defendant’s only intention – whether before or after the NSL – was to see the fall of the Chinese Communist Party.” [Chinese Communist party]Although the ultimate cost was the sacrifice of the interests of the people of China and Hong Kong, Justice Esther Toh said on Monday.

She likened Lai’s alleged efforts to work with US politicians to impose sanctions on China to a hypothetical US citizen working with Russia to overthrow the US government.

John Burns, emeritus professor of politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong, said he expected Lai to receive a long prison sentence “given the symbolic importance of the case.” [the] Prosecution over the central government’s narrative that the 2019 protests were an attempt at a “color revolution.”

Lai was first arrested in 2020, and has already spent nearly five years in detention. He was previously sentenced to 20 months in prison for his involvement in “unauthorised” anti-government protests and vigils in 2019 and 2020 to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre.

His family and legal team in the United Kingdom say that his health deteriorated during his imprisonment, and that he was denied access to specialist doctors to treat his diabetes. The authorities in Hong Kong described these accusations as “completely baseless.”

The ruling comes amid growing geopolitical tensions over Hong Kong, a former British territory whose legal system separate from mainland China was among the cornerstones of its status as a global financial center.

The Hong Kong Democratic Party, the city’s largest pro-democracy party and once a leading opposition force in the Legislative Council, said it voted to dissolve the party after 31 years.

Beijing overhauled the city’s electoral system, allowing only pre-approved candidates, in effect barring opposition. The new “patriots-only” system is struggling to gain popular support, and the region recorded the second-lowest turnout ever in legislative elections last week.

But Hong Kong has attracted foreign investors and companies again in recent years, after its reputation was damaged by the 2019 unrest, a crackdown by central and local governments and a strict coronavirus travel regime. The city’s stock and IPO markets were some of the best performing markets in the world this year.

Western governments, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom, denounced the charges against Lai. US President Donald Trump said he would “100 percent” release Lai in the run-up to his election last year. Trump also appealed to Chinese leader Xi Jinping to release Lai during a meeting in October, Reuters reported.

Eric Lai, a senior fellow at the Georgetown Asian Law Center, said the guilty verdict was not surprising given the Chinese government’s general views of Lai.

“Beijing has consistently mobilized its media and official statements to name and shame Jimmy Lai as a criminal for years,” he said.

He added that the harsh ruling would increase pressure on US and UK policymakers to strike back against China and Hong Kong.