Who is Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong's pro-democracy media tycoon, found guilty of national security offences?

To his supporters, former media mogul Jimmy Lai is a fighter for democracy. To his opponents, he’s a traitor to his motherland.

Now, he could face life in prison after being convicted of conspiracies to commit sedition and collusion with foreign forces awaits a verdict in a landmark trial that began in 2023.
Lai, 78, is an outspoken critic of China’s ruling Communist Party who was arrested in 2020 under a national security law following massive anti-government protests that rocked Hong Kong the year before.

His arrest and the closure of his Apple Daily newspaper, a tabloid-style publication that backed the democracy movement, dealt a blow to free speech in a city that was once a bastion of press freedom in Asia.

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From China to Hong Kong

Born in mainland China, Lai was just 12 when he arrived in Hong Kong on a fishing boat as a stowaway, hoping for a better life in the then-British colony. He began working as a child labourer in a glove factory, where he was introduced to the garment industry. He later founded the popular casual wear chain Giordano in 1981.

But a pivotal moment for Lai was the Beijing deadly crackdown on the 1989 student-led pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square: His company printed T-shirts in support of the protests and he became interested in media to disseminate information.

He founded Next Magazine in 1990, and five years later, Apple Daily. The news outlet attracted a strong following with its sometimes sensational reports, investigative scoops, and short animated video reports. Being openly critical of the Hong Kong and Chinese governments, the newspaper was well-received among pro-democracy readers.

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In 1994, he insulted then-Chinese Premier Li Peng, calling him “the son of a turtle egg,” an offensive slur in Chinese culture, after Li justified the Tiananmen crackdown. China pressured the Giordano brand, and Lai had to sell his stake in the company.

An outspoken pro-democracy activist

His long-time friend Lee Wing-tat, also an activist, said Lai was a firm believer in democracy, freedom, and the “small government, big market” economic principle, which emphasises minimal state intervention and free trade. This was shaped by his childhood experience in mainland China, where his family suffered under the Communist Party’s rule, and his rags-to-riches journey in the city, Lee said.

Lai organised informal gatherings for pro-democracy lawmakers and scholars to discuss policies over meals in the 1990s, in the hopes of influencing politicians, Lee said.

He also took to the streets, including massive pro-democracy protests in 2014, known as the Umbrella Movement, and made donations to pro-democracy parties, including one that Lee used to chair. His newspaper often urged readers to join protests.

Lai was among the demonstrators in the leaderless anti-government protests in 2019. He met with then-US Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the time to discuss the developments linked to a now-withdrawn bill that sparked the unrest, angering Beijing.

A crackdown under the national security law

In 2020, China's national security law for Hong Kong, meant to quell the protests, loomed. In response, Apple Daily launched a campaign encouraging readers to petition US President Donald Trump, during his first term, to “save Hong Kong.”

During his trial, Lai’s Apple Daily executives said he had influenced the newspaper’s coverage, with one saying objections to the petition campaign were brushed aside. Prosecutors accused him of asking staff not to target Trump, and Lai later testified he hoped the American president could help stop the national security law.

After the law took effect in June 2020, Lai told The Associated Press that “Hong Kong is dead.”

More than a month later, Lai was arrested under the law as police raided Apple Daily’s building. The operation sent shockwaves through the local press scene. In 2021, arrests of the newspaper’s top executives and freezing of some of its assets forced the publication to cease operation.

The trial

Since December 2020, Lai has been in custody, during which he was sentenced to five years and nine months for fraud allegations in a case unrelated to the security law.

During his current trial, prosecutors alleged he had conspired with others to collude with foreign forces and publish seditious materials, saying he had clearly betrayed national interests. They pointed to Lai’s articles, text messages, social posts and livestream shows. Lai admitted he had advocated for foreign sanctions against China earlier, but stopped once the law kicked in. He argued in court that he wrote without seditious intent.

“For truth prevails in God’s kingdom, and that’s good enough for me,” he said.

The court rejected these arguments, writing in an 855-page verdict that Lai’s campaign against the People’s Republic of China carried on for much of his adult life and continued “in a less explicit way” after the law’s passage.

“There is no doubt that (Lai) had harbored his resentment and hatred of the PRC for many of his adult years,” Juder Esther Toh said, reading from the verdict.

Health concerns behind bars

The food lover, who is nicknamed “Fatty Lai,” has shrunk in size while in prison. His lawyer in August said he had experienced heart palpitations, though the government said a medical examination found no abnormalities.

Lai, a Roman Catholic, drew multiple crucifixions behind bars, and his friend Robert Sirico, a US-based priest, received one of the pictures.

Beijing has called Lai “an agent and pawn of the anti-China forces." But Sirico said Lai had told him he wanted China to be better and the priest visited mainland China after Lai encouraged him to.

“He had a great love of China,” Sirico said, pointing to Lai’s art at home and the meals they shared.

In the AP interview in 2020, Lai appeared undaunted.

“If I have to go to prison, I don’t mind. I don’t care,” he said. “It won’t be something I can worry about, I’ll just relax and do what I have to do.”