Briton Jimmy Lai found guilty of national security offences in Hong Kong

Pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai has been found guilty of national security offences in Hong Kong.

The media tycoon and British citizen, 78, was arrested in August 2020 after China imposed a national security law following massive anti-government protests in Hong Kong.

Sky News' Asia correspondent Helen-Ann Smith, who is at West Kowloon Law Courts Building, said Lai looked "drawn and thin" as he listened to the verdict being delivered.

He had previously been sentenced for several lesser offences during his five years in prison.

Lai, who founded the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security, as well as one count of conspiracy to distribute seditious publications.

He has been found guilty of all three charges and could be sentenced later to life in prison.

Reading from an 855-page verdict, Judge Esther Toh said that the evidence showed Lai had extended "constant invitations" to the US to help bring down the Chinese government and had spent years considering what leverage the US could use.

"There is no doubt that the first defendant had harboured his resentment and hatred of the PRC (People's Republic of China) for many of his adult years," Judge Toh said.

She added that the court was satisfied that Lai was the "mastermind" of the conspiracies and that the only reasonable inference from the evidence was that Lai's intent was to seek the downfall of the ruling Communist Party even at the sacrifice of the people of China and Hong Kong.

Lai has spent more than 1,800 days in solitary confinement. His family say his health has worsened as a result and that he suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and heart palpitations.

His son Sebastien Lai described his father's "rapidly" declining health as "heartbreaking" during a press conference later on Monday.

Mr Lai said: "In the 800-page verdict that they have, there's essentially nothing.

"There's nothing that incriminates him. There's nothing that even under their own legal system would make him guilty."

Mr Lai added that it is a "perfect example" of how the law has been "moulded and weaponised against someone who essentially said stuff that they didn't like".

Mr Lai urged the UK government to "put action behind words".

He said: "Make my father's release a precondition to closer relationships with China."

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said she condemned the "politically motivated prosecution of Jimmy Lai that has resulted in today's guilty verdict."

She added: "Jimmy Lai has been targeted by the Chinese and Hong Kong governments for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.

"Beijing's National Security Law was imposed on Hong Kong to silence China's critics. The UK has repeatedly called for the National Security Law to be repealed and for an end to the prosecution of all individuals charged under it.

"We continue to call for Mr Lai's immediate release, for all necessary treatment and for full access to independent medical professionals."

Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel called Mr Lai's conviction "an outrage to democracy, personal freedom and liberty".

She called on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to directly raise the case with China's President Xi Jinping, "and demand Jimmy's immediate release from custody so his ordeal can end, he can be returned to Britain and be reunited with his family".

She added: "The imposition of the National Security Law on Hong Kong is in violation of the freedoms that should have been guaranteed under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and the British Government has not done enough to oppose the suppression of freedom and human rights in Hong Kong."

Lai's trial, heard by three judges approved by the government without a jury present, has been closely monitored by the UK, the US, the European Union and political observers as a barometer of media freedom and judicial independence in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Responding to the verdict, the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation's UK and Europe director Mark Sabah said in a statement: "This verdict should surprise absolutely no one. The trial against Jimmy Lai has been a show trial masquerading as justice. But what's actually been on display is the complete and total destruction of Hong Kong's reputation as a global legal centre.

"Jimmy Lai is a British citizen. But instead of demanding the release of one of its own, the British government's response has been years of timid action and kowtowing to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). By abandoning one of its citizens, the British government has sent a clear and shameful message: trade access to the CCP matters more than the rule of law, press freedom, or the safety of British nationals abroad."

He added: "We now wait for whatever sentence the Hong Kong authorities and the CCP conjure up to bring this five-year charade to an end. But make no mistake, the fight for freedom and justice will go on, not just for Jimmy Lai but for all political prisoners in Hong Kong."

Three months after winning the general election, Sir Keir Starmer said securing Lai's release was a "priority" for his government and said his government would "continue" to raise the case with China.

Most recently, during a January trip to China, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she raised the question over Lai's imprisonment with every minister she met.

In August, Mr Lai told Sky News that unless the British government intervenes, his father "is most likely going to die in jail".

Mr Lai said his father's death would not just be a personal tragedy, but a huge problem for both the Hong Kong authorities and Beijing's government.

"You can't tell the world you have the rule of law, the free press and all these values that are instrumental to a financial centre and still have my father in jail," he told Sky News.

"And if he dies, that's it, that's a comma on Hong Kong as a financial centre."