Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong Pro-Demockass activist, Convicted in Landmark National Security Trial

Hong KongJimmy Lai, a pro-democracy former Hong Kong media mogul and critic of Beijing, was found guilty of a national security crime in the city’s court on Monday, which could have sent him to prison for life.
Three federal judges found LAI, 78, guilty of conspiring with others to join forces with foreign forces to endanger national security and of conspiring to publish inflammatory articles. He pleaded guilty to all charges.
TORONE SUU / Reuters
Lai was arrested in August 2020 under a Beijing-based national security law that was established following massive anti-government protests in 2019. During the two arrests, Lai was convicted of conspiracy and reduced.
Lai’s trial, held without a jury, was watched closely by the US, Britain, the European Union and political observers such as media freedom and British independence in 1997.
Reading the decision on page 855, Judge Esther ToH, Esther Estheri extended a ‘permanent invitation’ to the US to help reduce the Chinese government’s pretext of helping the Hong Kongers.
Lai’s lawyers accepted during the trial that he had called for a recall before the Act came into effect, but he insisted that he drop these calls to comply with the law.
But the judges ruled that Lai never expressed his intention to overthrow the ruling Chinese Communist Party, “at least not in a visible way.”
Lam Yik / Reuters
Toh said the court was satisfied that Lai was the mastermind of the Conscuracies and that Lai’s testimony was sometimes contradictory. The judges ruled that the only logical tendency from the evidence alone was that Lai’s sole purpose, before and after the security law, was to seek the downfall of the Chinese party and even the sacrifice of the people of China and Hong Kong.
They wrote: “This was the ultimate goal of the composition and literature of the section.
Among those present were Lahi’s daughter and Layi’s son, and Hong Kong Catholic Catholic Joseph Zen. Lai pursed her lips and nodded to her family before being escorted to the courtroom.
His decision also tests Beijing’s diplomatic ties. US President Donald Trump said he raised the case against China, while Keir Keirir, the Prime Minister of Keir, said his government has prioritized securing the release of Lai, who is a British citizen.
The founder of Apple’s Apple newspaper PROCCACCACCACACCACCACyct Powsent will now be sentenced the next day.
A fine for association carries a heavy penalty of imprisonment. The hearing of the issues was scheduled to begin Jan.
Apple Daily, a vocal critic of the Hong Kong and Beijing governments, was forced to close in 2021 after police raided its police force and raided its senior journalists, and management seized their property.
During LAI’s 156-day trial, prosecutors accused him of bribery of Apple’s top managers every day and others of asking foreign forces to install other hostile materials in China.
The prosecutor also accused Lai of making these requests, highlighting his meetings with former President Mike Pence and US First Secretary Mike Pompeo in July 2019 when protests arose.
It also presented 161 documents, including Apple Daily articles, in court as evidence, as well as social media posts and text messages.
Lai testified for 52 days in his own defense, arguing that he did not want to be solicited from other countries after the cheap security law was imposed in June 2020.
His legal team also clashed with free speech.
As the trial continued, Lahi’s health seemed to decline.
Lai’s lawyers in August told the court that he suffered from heart palpitations. After the decision, the lawyer, Robert Pang, said his client was in good spirits as the legal team read the decision.
Before the verdict, his daughter Claire told the Associated Press that her father became weak and lost some of his nails and teeth. He also said he suffered from illnesses for months, along with chronic pain, diabetes, heart issues and high blood pressure.
“His spirit is strong but his body is failing,” he said.
Hong Kong’s government said no abnormalities were found during an examination by a doctor who followed Lai’s complaint of heart problems. It added this month that the medical services provided to them were adequate.
Hong Kong leader John Lee said Lai harmed the country’s fundamental interests, calling his intentions cruel.
Steve Li, the senior manager of the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police, disputed claims of the life shared by Lai outside the court building.
“Lai’s conviction is justice and work,” he told reporters.
In Beijing, a spokesperson for the Chinese nation abroad, Guika Jiakun said that China expressed strong opposition to the division of the city’s jurisdiction by ‘certain countries,’ urging those countries to respect the city’s legal system.
Before sunrise, dozens of residents lined up outside the court building to secure a court seat.
Former daily apple employee Tammy Cheung arrived at 5 am, saying she wanted to know about Lai’s condition after reports of his health.
He said he felt that the process was being rushed since the date was only announced last Friday, but added, “I am relieved that this case can be concluded quickly.”
Rights groups, including Global Media Watchdog Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International, criticized the decision.
“It is not a person who has been on trial – it is freedom itself, and with this judgment that has been annulled,” said journalists without the general director of Border Genibaut.
In 2022, Lai was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison for various fraud charges involving employment violations, in addition to other charges related to the 2019 protests.

