<figure id="attachment_3235258" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3235258" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-3235258 size-full" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/1ea78db4-jimmy-lai-1.jpg" alt="Jimmy Lai" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3235258" class="wp-caption-text">Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai (2nd from left) prepares to board a court-bound vehicle at the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre in Hong Kong on Dec 12, 2020. (EPA Images pic)</figcaption></figure>
HONG KONG: Hong Kong&#8217;s High Court will hear the mitigation plea of pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai today, the final step before sentencing in a landmark national security trial that has drawn international condemnation and could see Lai jailed for life.
Lai, 78, was last month found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under a China-imposed national security law, and conspiracy to publish seditious material, in a verdict that was criticised by the US, Britain, the EU and others.
Lai has denied all charges.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the verdict showed &#8220;the enforcement of Beijing&#8217;s laws to silence those who seek to protect freedom of speech and other fundamental rights&#8221;.
Lai, a longstanding critic of the Chinese Communist Party and founder of the now shuttered pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, is the most high-profile figure to face prosecution under a years-long national security crackdown in the China-ruled city following mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.
The judges wrote that Lai had used his influence and the Apple Daily tabloid &#8220;to carry out a consistent campaign with a view to undermine the legitimacy or authority&#8221; of China and Hong Kong.
They added that Lai&#8217;s evidence was at times &#8220;contradictory, inconsistent, evasive and unreliable&#8221;.
Eight other defendants have pleaded guilty. Five of them have become prosecution witnesses, including Cheung Kim-hung, former CEO of Lai&#8217;s once-listed company, Next Digital; Apple Daily&#8217;s former associate publisher Chan Pui-man; and former editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee.
The mitigation hearings for all the defendants get underway at 2am and are expected to last four days. Sentencing will take place at a later date.
Lai, a British citizen, has been held in solitary confinement for more than 1,800 days, with two of his children warning his health had deteriorated and if he died in prison it would cause &#8220;irreparable damage to Hong Kong&#8217;s reputation&#8221;.
US President Donald Trump said in an interview this month he had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to release Lai, whom he called a &#8220;positive activist&#8221;, but hadn&#8217;t yet heard back from Xi.
Five experts appointed by the UN human rights council have also called for Lai&#8217;s release on humanitarian grounds, saying his conviction showed a &#8220;dramatic decline in fundamental freedoms and judicial independence&#8221;.
Hong Kong authorities say Lai has been given a fair trial and the national security law has brought stability.

MatchPoint Times

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s mitigation hearing set to begin ahead of sentencing

Lai was found guilty of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under a China-imposed national security law and of conspiring to publish seditious material.

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