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Hong Kong court finds pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai guilty of sedition and collusion with foreign forces
CNBC ^ | 12/14/2025 | Lim Hui Jie

Posted on 12/15/2025 11:10:29 AM PST by DFG

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media baron Jimmy Lai on Monday was found guilty of sedition and collusion with foreign countries by a Hong Kong court.

The 78-year-old was charged under Hong Kong’s controversial national security law, enacted by Beijing in 2020 after pro-democracy protests swept the region in 2019.

The court said Lai was guilty of a “conspiracy to commit collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.”

It also said that Lai and his tabloid Apple Daily, requested a foreign country or entity outside of China “to impose sanctions or blockade, or engage in other hostile activities” against Hong Kong or China.

The court, in its 850-page judgement, said that the businessman “harbored his resentment and hatred of the PRC [People’s Republic of China] for many of his adult years.”

Lai, one of the CCP’s most vocal critics, had pleaded not guilty to two charges of colluding with foreign forces under the national security law, as well as a charge of conspiracy to publish seditious materials.

He has been under arrest since 2020, with his trial starting in December 2023. Lai’s sentencing is expected to be on Jan. 12.

Speaking just after the judgment, Andrew Collier, senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, said the verdict was “not very good” from a foreign investor perspective, adding “people want an independent court system that’s going to protect the rights of citizens and the financial community.”

He said the verdict on Lai was expected, but the question for Hong Kong is around investor confidence.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...


TOPICS: China
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 12/15/2025 11:10:29 AM PST by DFG
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To: DFG

There are millions of people there not willing to die for freedom. Even protesting is dangerous.


2 posted on 12/15/2025 11:17:07 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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To: DFG

What did they THINK was going to happen?


3 posted on 12/15/2025 11:19:10 AM PST by Salvavida
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To: Salvavida

China is no more repressive than much of Europe and the UK.

But, advocating for the overthrow of a government tends to get you in trouble no matter where.


4 posted on 12/15/2025 11:32:19 AM PST by Fai Mao (I used to care, but things have changed ~ Bob Dylan)
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To: DFG

And our Seditious Six walk free.


5 posted on 12/15/2025 12:49:25 PM PST by jacknhoo (Luke 12:51; Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.)
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To: DFG

China broke the treaty. HK should not be under Beijing’s control for another 21 years, but the UK is too busy doing the same crap to its citizens to care.


6 posted on 12/15/2025 1:07:48 PM PST by HYPOCRACY (Wake up, smell the cat food in your bank account. )
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To: DIRTYSECRET
China agreed that Hong Kong would be governed as the British did for 50 years. Now,not even 30 years later,Hong Kong is just another small village in the Red Chinese "gulag".

And what's Britain to do to prevent this treaty violation? Well,they *do* have a navy consisting of 17 warships...and 10 rowboats.

7 posted on 12/15/2025 2:10:28 PM PST by Gay State Conservative (Import The Third World,Become The Third World)
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To: Gay State Conservative

Well,they *do* have a navy consisting of 17 warships...and 10 rowboats.


They use the rowboats to tow 10 of the 17 warships ... the other 7 are either broken down for lack of maintenance money or have no sailors to man them.


8 posted on 12/15/2025 2:16:46 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: Gay State Conservative
China agreed that Hong Kong would be governed as the British did for 50 years. Now,not even 30 years later,Hong Kong is just another small village in the Red Chinese "gulag".

Maybe China figured that if Britain could stamp out freedom in the UK, they were free to do so in Hong Kong.

9 posted on 12/15/2025 2:23:47 PM PST by ETCM (“There is no security, no safety, in the appeasement of evil.” — Ronald Reagan)
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To: DFG

All those politicians on both sides of the aisle in the pockets of the Chi-coms should be ashamed of themselves. None of them will speak up for this guy.


10 posted on 12/15/2025 4:52:13 PM PST by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
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To: Fai Mao

BS.

Hyperbole crap.

You consistently downplay Chicom depravity.


11 posted on 12/15/2025 7:50:38 PM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: Fai Mao

You’re officially a Chicom stooge.

Liar scum.


12 posted on 12/15/2025 7:51:13 PM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: DFG

This is Britains’s fault.

King lowlife and their government then and now.

It’s part and parcel of UK’s demise.


13 posted on 12/15/2025 7:52:56 PM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: ETCM

Idiotic comment.


14 posted on 12/15/2025 7:53:29 PM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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