In a commentary under the pen name “Gang Ao Ping”, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office says that it “resolutely supports” the city government in fulfilling its responsibility to safeguard national security, as well as lawfully convicting the “ringleaders” of anti-China activities that aim to destabilise Hong Kong and endanger national security.

“Jimmy Lai is the main planner and participant in a series of incidents that are anti-China and aim to destabilise Hong Kong,” the commentary says. “He is the mastermind behind Hong Kong’s so-called colour revolution; he acted as an agent and pawn of external anti-China forces. His crimes are flagrant and the harm is profound.”

It adds that any attempt by external forces to intervene with Hong Kong’s handling of the case, through exerting pressure or threats of sanctions against city officials, will not shake the government’s determination to uphold the rule of law and safeguard national security.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu welcomes Lai’s conviction, calling it an upholding of justice and a safeguard for Hong Kong’s core values.

“Lai has long exploited his media outlet, Apple Daily, to deliberately stir up social conflicts, incite division and hatred, glorify violence, and openly call for foreign sanctions on China and Hong Kong,” Lee says, stressing that the court’s ruling is backed by “irrefutable evidence”.

“Lai has harmed the fundamental interests of the nation and the well-being of Hong Kong residents. His actions were shameful and his intentions were malicious.”

Lee reiterates authorities’ duty to protect national security and vows to combat any acts that endanger it.

“The law never allows anyone – regardless of profession or background – to openly harm their own country and fellow citizens in the name of human rights, democracy and freedom,” he says.

Lee adds that the judiciary has acted without fear of intimidation in fulfilling its responsibility to safeguard national security.

He also says that the government will carefully study the judgment and issue a more comprehensive statement.

Lawmaker Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, also the convenor of the government’s key decision-making body Executive Council, says she is not surprised that Lai has been found guilty on all three charges.

“Through the long trial process, the evidence has been quite solid,” she says. “The charges against him, particularly collusion with foreign forces, are very serious offences that endanger national security. This is the first case and I hope that this will be the last.”

Ip says the proceedings for the case have been very “fair and just”, and done under a strict process, adding that she feels very “reassured”.

“I hope that these incidents that have endangered national security since 2019 have now come to a close and that others involved will not test the law,” she says.

Responding to a question on potential criticism and sanctions from the international community following the verdict, Ip says that safeguarding national security is of the utmost importance, adding that the city should not be worried about smears or sanctions.

Li says the proceedings involved the examination of 2,220 exhibits and the bundle of documents used in the case was more than 80,000 pages long.

The trial spanned 156 days, with 52 days dedicated to Lai’s testimony. Fourteen prosecution witnesses testified in court, including five accomplices and one witness who was granted immunity.

“These figures demonstrate the extensive scale and the fairness of the investigation and judicial process,” Li says.

He also notes that court administrators had prepared more than 400 public seats during the trial for use by the general public and members of the media.

Speaking to the media after Lai’s conviction, Chief Superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah of the force’s National Security Department says that despite Lai’s attempt to shift accountability to his subordinates in his testimony and use press freedom as a “justification”, the evidence shows he was the mastermind behind the offences.

“He exploited his media enterprise to manipulate reporting and incite public hostility towards China and the Hong Kong government. Furthermore, through [his] wealth and extensive foreign political connections [and] affiliations, he was deeply involved in acts of collusion with foreign forces, thereby gravely endangering national security,” he says.

“In fact, Lai’s conviction is justice served.”

Responding to questions on whether Lai’s verdict marked the conclusion of cases surrounding the now-defunct Apple Daily, Li says the legal process is still not complete and that Lai could still stage an appeal.

He adds that he cannot comment on whether there will be further prosecutions and arrests.

Li also says that the force is not afraid of any sanctions in light of the guilty ruling, as they are the ones responsible for safeguarding the rule of law in Hong Kong.

The judges point to numerous occasions where Lai gave “evasive, incredible and unreliable evidence”. One example was his claim that he and Mark Simon “seldom talked about politics”, which the judges said was “far from the truth”.

They also reject instances when Lai said he either did not remember certain details or read certain articles or, as in one example, claimed he did not care about messages he received related to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.

“After a thorough and careful assessment of the evidence, we find [Lai’s] evidence was riddled with inconsistencies and contradictions. We do not accept that his inconsistencies or contradictions were because time had lapsed since the events took place, or [because of] failing memory or stress or age.”

Regarding the second count of collusion with foreign forces, the judges say Lai had an “unwavering commitment” to working with international lobbying groups to call for sanctions and other hostile actions against China and Hong Kong, following the promulgation of the national security law.

They also say there was “no doubt” such an agreement existed between Mark Simon, activist Andy Li, paralegal Wayland Chan Tsz-wah, Finn Lau and others – namely through the actions of SWHK and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.

They cite as evidence a meeting on June 16, 2020, in which Lai encouraged Chan to continue appealing for sanctions despite the latter’s qualms about doing so in light of the impending security law.

“We agree with the prosecution that the evidence of the sixth meeting shows [Lai’s] unwavering commitment to go on with the agreement to request for [sanctions, blockades, hostile activities] in spite of the [national security law].”

The judges say Lai had sought to operate in a “grey area” after the promulgation of the national security law, adopting what they called “an implicitly disguised and subtle approach”.

“However, in our judgment, [Lai’s] change of strategy was in form and not in substance,” they say.

They cite a Fox News appearance in December 2020, during which Lai said he hoped the administration of then US president Joe Biden would make it as a precondition in any renegotiated trade deal with China that Beijing restore Hong Kong’s “real” rule of law and freedom”.

They also cite a text he made to American journalist Maria Bartiromo after the interview in which he said: “We need all the help from America.”

“It is clear from the above that even after the promulgation of the national security law, [Lai] persisted in seeking blockades and interference from foreign countries to further facilitate his cause,” the judgment reads.

The judges have ruled that Lai’s campaign for requesting foreign sanctions on China and Hong Kong before the imposition of the national security law “had not ceased” after the Beijing-decreed legislation came into force.

The judges say there was “ample evidence” that after the national security law took effect in June 2020, Lai continued expressing an “anti-China stance” and carrying out his campaign urging sanctions and other hostile actions, only he did so by “adopting a more indirect and subtle strategy and “toning down his rhetoric”.

Among the evidence listed by the judges was the front page article of Apple Daily published the day after the national security law’s implementation, titled “Evil Law Enacted, One Country Two Systems Died”.

The judgment also cites a live chat Lai hosted in which he said China was using its values to “invade” the handling of international affairs, and that Western countries such as Canada and Germany were becoming more aligned with the US in its policy towards Beijing. This live chat was an “implicit request for other foreign countries to join hands with the US in taking action against the [People’s Republic of China]”.

“In our judgment, [Lai] in his various episodes of live chat, described China as the enemy to the Western world, made an implicit request for the US and its allies to act together to impose or to continue to impose a technology embargo against China.”

The court stresses that Lai’s actions and words to foreign countries before the national security law took effect on June 30, 2020 are not the focus of the criminal charges but serve as background to them.

It accepts the prosecution’s argument that a defendant may still be criminally liable even if the agreement in question was lawful when entered into but later became illegal due to a change in the law, provided the agreement remained in effect afterwards.

The court also rejects the defence’s submission to discharge Lai from liability for any earlier agreements rendered criminal by the national security law.

“The question for this court to decide is whether any of the previous agreements which the prosecution say were made before the national security law in fact continued after the [legislation] as alleged; if so, whether any of the defendants [including Lai] remained a party to any of those agreements with intention to carry them out [must be considered],” the ruling reads.

The judges say Lai had been obsessed with making the country subservient to the might of the United States and turning China into “a lackey of the West”.

The Apple Daily founder had expressed “poisonous” views in his newspaper column over the years, while inviting like-minded contributors to write for the tabloid and make “venomous assertions” against Beijing, they add.

The court also notes that Lai was keen to enlist young activists in his “fight for freedom” to spread his influence, as evidenced by his support for the “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong” lobbying group behind the scenes.

The judges accept the suggestion of former Apple Daily and Next Digital staff – Cheung Kim-hung, Chan Pui-man, Yeung Ching-kee and Royston Chow – that Lai was a “very hands-on boss” deeply involved in the operation of the now-defunct newspaper.

“Based on the evidence before us, we find that [Lai’s] political views bore heavily on the editorial policy of Apple Daily and the selection criteria of writers and articles of the Editorial and Apple Forum that they could be regarded as, to borrow the words of Yeung Ching-kee, the ‘guiding principles’,” the judgment says.

It also says the fact that Apple Daily had a charter did not mean its senior editorial staff could say no to Lai and that it was only prepared to meet corporate auditing requirements.

“The so-called editorial independence provided for in the charter in practice only meant that there should be a separation between news reporting and advertisement,” it adds.

According to the judgment, the court finds that, based on the evidence, Lai used Apple Daily as a “platform for spreading his political ideas and implementing his political agenda” before and after the promulgation of the national security law.

The judgment says that the 161 articles submitted by the prosecution as evidence of the first charge “manifested a general and constant pattern of showing serious hostility and bias against” the Communist Party, and the central and Hong Kong governments.

Given Lai’s role as a “hands-on boss”, the judges found he would have been “fully aware” of the mentioned articles and had allowed them to be published “because he wanted to keep the resistance movement alive against the HKSAR Government”.

According to the ruling, the judges found the accomplice witnesses – former Apple Daily publisher Cheung Kim-hung, then associate publisher Chan Pui-man, ex-editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee, Next Digital chief financial officer Royston Chow Tat-kuen, activist Andy Li Yu-hin and paralegal Wayland Chan Tsz-wah – to be credible and reliable, but considered Lai to be neither.

“Therefore, unless otherwise stated, we accept what the accomplice witnesses said in evidence as true. On the other hand, we reject the exculpatory parts of [Lai’s] evidence,” it says.

The court’s full judgment, a tome of 857 pages and 1812 paragraphs, starts by outlining how Lai built a successful textile business from scratch and started a media business in 1995, only for his “deep resentment and hatred” for the Communist Party to lead him down a thorny path to the current trial.

The judges note that Lai surrounded himself with like-minded individuals who were keen on tearing down those in power in Beijing, such as his right-hand man Mark Simon, whom he met in church and entrusted with his finances and some of his companies.

Lai was also keen to use Taiwan as leverage against China as early as in 2017, when he advocated for a greater US military presence in the South China Sea and recruited former senior American officials to provide consultancy work for the self-ruling island’s government, the judgment says.

According to a press statement on the verdict, the court reiterates that it has not tried Lai for his political views or beliefs, and has only considered the law and evidence at hand.

The court also stresses that what Lai had done or said before the implementation of the national security law was not the focus of the charges but served as background to the evidence.

Toh says written mitigation for the defendants will be submitted to the court before 4pm on January 2, 2026.

Oral hearing of the mitigation will be set for 10am on January 12 and four days will be set aside.

“The sentencing date will be announced as soon as possible,” she says.

Lai was found guilty on all three charges: conspiracy to print, publish, sell, offer for sale, distribute, display and/or reproduce seditious publications; and two charges of conspiracy to commit collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.

Other defendants in the trial – Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited and AD Internet Limited – are also found guilty of conspiracy to print, publish, sell, offer for sale, distribute, display and/or reproduce seditious publications, and one count of conspiracy to commit collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.

Toh says “there is no doubt” that Lai never wavered in his intention to destabilise the governance of the Communist Party, and despite the enactment of the national security law, he intended on continuing to do it in a less explicit way as evidenced in live chats, a Fox News interview and his tweets.

She says a reasonable inference that can be drawn from the preponderance of evidence is that Lai intended to seek the downfall of the party even though the “ultimate cost” was the “sacrifice” of the interests of the people on the mainland and in Hong Kong.

“We’re satisfied that [Lai’s] actions showed his deliberate intent to pursue the conspiracies under [the three charges] which constituted a threat and harm to the national security in [the country and Hong Kong],” she says.

Toh notes that before Lai’s failed attempt in June 2020 to appeal against a travel ban arising from a separate charge and ahead of the implementation of the national security law, he had drafted a letter to The New York Times that had been arranged by Mark Simon.

She recites part of the letter: “[President] Xi’s clampdown on [Hong Kong’s] rule of law and freedom with the new national security law is just the beginning of his aggression on Taiwan and its neighbours in the South China Sea … Now is not the time for rhetoric but to take action to sanction and exact punishment on China … This may even be the best time for America to create a ‘perfect storm’ to wrought the demise of the [Chinese Communist Party].”

Describing Simon as a “mysterious character,” Toh says he was clearly a facilitator for Lai to meet senior US officials, and to lobby and seek their support against the central and Hong Kong governments.

She also cites a 2019 message between Lai, Simon and Martin Lee Chu-ming, the founding chairman of the now-defunct Democratic Party, in which Lai said: “[US President] Trump knows how powerful [Hong Kong] is as leverage for his trade deal and beyond … The new Cold War has just unfolded officially. [Hong Kong] has gathered more wherewithal for its resistance.”

Judge Toh says that it was also evident from WhatsApp messages received by Lai that his right-hand man, Mark Simon, was working hard behind the scenes to help Lai arrange meetings with government officials in Washington.

She cites a series of messages sent in 2019 to Lai by Simon, a former US naval intelligence officer, about arrangements to meet US officials including former National Security Adviser John Bolton.

She also points to a meeting Lai held with then US vice-president Mike Pence and secretary of state Mike Pompeo in which Lai requested Washington to impose sanctions, or engage in hostile activities against China and Hong Kong in relation to the extradition bill, which triggered the months-long social unrest in 2019.

Toh says Lai’s “constant invitation” to the US to help bring down the Chinese government with the excuse of helping Hong Kong would be analogous to a situation where an American asked for help from Russia to bring down the US government under the guise of helping the state of California.

“We’re satisfied that the evidence plainly shows that [Lai] clearly conspired with the senior management in [Apple Daily] and corporate defendants,” she says.

Toh also says the court is “satisfied” that there is “indisputable evidence” that Lai conspired with others to request foreign countries to impose sanctions or blockade or engage in other hostile activities against China, Hong Kong or both.

Judge Toh says that it is clear from the evidence that the defendant from an early stage, long before the national security law was implemented, applied his mind as to what leverage the United States could use against China.

There is “no doubt” that Lai harboured his “resentment and hatred” of the People’s Republic of China for many of his adult years, she says. Among evidence she cites is his live chats and interviews on Fox News.

Prosecutors accused Lai of using his newspaper and social media platforms to instigate foreign sanctions and incite public disaffection against authorities.

They also argued that Lai provided financial backing to the “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong” (SWHK) lobbying group to incite hostile actions by the West.

The prosecution relied heavily on Lai’s pursuit of sanctions and other measures targeting mainland China before the implementation of the national security law in June 2020, contending that he was resolute in furthering his cause through statements on social media, in newspaper columns and in interviews even after collusion became a crime.

Lai spent 52 days in the witness box refuting accusations that he tried to influence foreign policy on Hong Kong or China, and that he used his friendships with overseas politicians to push a political agenda.

While admitting that he had called for “draconian” sanctions from the US before the national security law took effect, Lai said he had ceased all acts that would be considered criminal under the new legal order.

He added that the city under Beijing’s tightened grip was “beyond redemption” and that it was “useless to fight for Hong Kong now”.

Prosecutors argued that Lai continued to seek punitive measures from abroad through indirect appeals after the national security law took effect.

Those alleged attempts included supporting the US’ revocation of Hong Kong’s preferential trade status, the imposition of embargoes on hi-tech exports to mainland China, as well as the British government’s decision to offer citizenship to Hongkongers.

Lai stressed his comments were merely his analyses of current affairs and were not meant to instigate further actions from the West.

The prosecution alleged that Lai supported SWHK from behind the scenes and drew three of its core members into a grand plan to trigger mainland China’s economic and political collapse through international lobbying.

A key prosecution witness told the court how the Apple Daily founder had encouraged them to disseminate news about the city abroad, appeal for international intervention, link up with overseas officials and influence foreign policies from “under the table”.

Lai rejected the witness’ claims as fabrication and said his only purpose in meeting the group’s members was to urge them to de-escalate the 2019 anti-government protests.

Lai pleaded not guilty to two conspiracy counts of collusion with foreign forces, and a third count of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious articles.

Collusion with foreign forces, one of four offences criminalised by the national security law, carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The law stipulates a three-tier sentencing regime for the offence, with a minimum jail term of 10 years applicable to a “principal offender”.

Sedition, meanwhile, carries a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment for a first offence under the now repealed sections 9 and 10 of the colonial-era Crimes Ordinance.

Claire Lai Choi, the tabloid founder’s daughter who had visited him in prison regularly, spoke to Western media for the first time in recent days about his father’s “rapidly deteriorating” health and allegedly demoralising treatment behind bars.

She told multiple news outlets that her father, who is diabetic, had been suffering from waist pain, swollen limbs and heart palpitations.

“We have waited for a very, very long time for his cases to be resolved, and we do not believe that they will be through the domestic system. Our only hope is outside,” she said in one interview.

Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai Sung-yan, said it was only “humane” and “right” for Beijing to free his father and send him away after putting him “through this hell”.

The 2025 annual report of the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), published on December 10, cited Lai’s prosecution and incarceration as a reason for Washington to sanction Hong Kong officials, prosecutors, judges, police and foreign financial institutions over the “systematic erosion” of the city’s autonomy and fundamental freedoms.

In a statement released last Friday, the Hong Kong government dismissed the CECC report’s “biased, slandering and smearing” findings as another attempt to undermine the city’s prosperity and stability.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun also said that Beijing firmly supported Hong Kong in “safeguarding national security in accordance with the law and punishing crimes that endanger national security”.

In its Friday press release, the Hong Kong government also rejected allegations in the CECC report that Lai was being treated unfairly in prison, calling them “completely baseless”.

The government statement cited representations by Lai’s lawyers in court that he had received daily medical check-ups and had no qualms about the arrangements.

It also stressed that Lai’s segregation from other inmates had “all along been made at his own request” and had been approved by the correctional service in accordance with the law.