Overview
- Hong Kong’s High Court on 15 December convicted Jimmy Lai of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and to publish seditious materials under the national security law.
- China’s Hong Kong foreign ministry office said it summoned US and UK representatives and lodged “solemn representations” after Western criticism, while the UK summoned the Chinese ambassador and called the case politically motivated.
- Lai, a British citizen and founder of Apple Daily, is 78 and has been detained since 2020 as rights groups decry the law’s impact on press freedom and dissent.
- Sentencing is expected in January, with mitigation proceedings set for early in the month, and could coincide with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s planned 29–31 January visit to Beijing.
- The US administration said the verdict shows an effort to silence free expression, President Donald Trump said he asked Xi Jinping to consider releasing Lai, and Chinese state-linked commentary casts the conviction as necessary to protect national security.