Jimmy Lai is Hong Kong's most famous media mogul and a British citizen. He arrived on Hong Kong's shores as a 12-year-old refugee from mainland China, a penniless stowaway in a boat. His fortunes rose alongside those of Hong Kong itself.
Mr Lai's involvement in democratic causes in China began after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Through his outspoken newspapers he backed the millions of Hong Kongers who marched for democracy, first in 2014 and again in 2019, and took to the streets himself in the more peaceful protests. Foremost among his publications was Apple Daily, which critics found sensationalist. It had to close down almost a year after he was arrested in 2020.
On December 15th 2025 three national-security judges found Mr Lai guilty of collusion with foreign forces and of sedition. He spent 156 days on trial—52 of them on the witness stand. He had already been behind bars for more than 1,800 days, serving time for unauthorised assembly and fraud. When sentenced, he could face life imprisonment. His family fear the 78-year-old, who suffers from diabetes, will die behind bars.
In their 855-page judgment the judges claimed Mr Lai was "obsessed" with "turning China into a lackey of the West" and had published seditious articles to "undermine the legitimacy or authority" of the governments in both Hong Kong and Beijing. They said he had used his "personal influence" to call for foreign countries to impose sanctions on China, continuing his "international lobbying" even after the introduction of a national-security law in 2020 made it a crime. The defence had argued that Mr Lai stopped all such activities when they became illegal. Before the NSL was promulgated he had met powerful potential supporters such as Mike Pence, then America's vice-president.
Despite being a British citizen, Mr Lai chose to stay in Hong Kong. "I must face the consequences of my actions, just or unjust," he wrote from prison. "It is also a way to uphold the dignity of Hong Kong people, as one of the leaders for the fight of freedom." His case was the first related to foreign collusion under the national-security law and is expected to establish precedents both legally and socially.
Mr Lai was sentenced to 20 years in jail for his pro-democracy activities.
Britain condemned Mr Lai's "politically motivated persecution" and called for his release, as did the European Union. Marco Rubio, America's secretary of state, lambasted "the enforcement of Beijing's laws to silence those who seek to protect freedom of speech". Days after Keir Starmer's visit to Beijing in early 2026, China sentenced Mr Lai, prompting Britain to create an easier pathway to visas for thousands in Hong Kong, which Chinese officials called "despicable".
A fool and your money are soon partners.