Overview
- Hong Kong’s High Court on December 15 found Jimmy Lai guilty of two counts of conspiring to collude with external forces and one count of conspiring to publish seditious materials.
- Sentencing has not yet been handed down, and the offences carry penalties up to life imprisonment, with supporters highlighting Lai’s age, prolonged solitary confinement and deteriorating health.
- G7 and EU statements condemning the trial drew sharp pushback from Chinese diplomatic missions, which said the remarks distorted facts and intruded on China’s internal affairs.
- UK reactions included Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper summoning China’s ambassador and MP Luke Charters decrying the verdict, while China’s embassy in London dismissed such criticism.
- In Washington, lawmakers renewed a proposal to sanction nearly 50 Hong Kong judges and prosecutors, citing the case as evidence of a broader crackdown that shuttered Lai’s Apple Daily in 2020.