Hong Kong’s High Court has found tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai guilty of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces in the city’s highest-profile trial under a China-imposed national security law that could see him jailed for life.
The landmark case has drawn international scrutiny of Hong Kong’s judicial independence amid a years-long crackdown on rights and freedoms in the global financial hub after 2019 pro-democracy protests that Beijing saw as a challenge to its rule.
While 78-year-old Lai’s supporters see him as a freedom fighter, Beijing sees him as a mastermind of the protests and a conspirator advocating for United States sanctions against Hong Kong and the mainland.
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