Hong Kong court to deliver verdict Dec 15 in national security trial of Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai, 78, amid global alarm over press freedom erosion.
Newsroom (12/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) A three-judge panel in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Law Courts Building will hand down its verdict on Monday, 15 December, in the marathon national security trial of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, a case that has become an international flashpoint over the city’s shrinking political freedoms.
Lai, the 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper and a British citizen, faces charges of “collusion with foreign forces” under the sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020. Conviction on the collusion count carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. He is also accused of “conspiracy to publish seditious material,” with prosecutors presenting 161 articles, including opinion pieces bearing his byline.
The verdict hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. local time (0200 GMT). By Friday morning, journalists had already begun queuing outside the courthouse to secure one of the limited public seats; past hearings have seen overflow crowds relegated to watching livestreams in separate rooms.
Lai has been detained since December 2020, much of it reportedly in solitary confinement. The trial, which opened in December 2023 after repeated delays, was originally expected to last around 30 days. It has now stretched into its second year.
International rights groups have sharply condemned the proceedings. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Friday denounced the “short-notice announcement” of the verdict date and labelled the entire trial “arbitrary and unlawful,” declaring it “a sham” with “nothing to do with the rule of law.” The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called the case “a travesty of justice” and warned that the protracted detention raises fears the elderly defendant “may die in prison.”
Western governments have repeatedly demanded Lai’s release. Beijing and Hong Kong authorities have rejected the criticism, insisting the case is being handled “strictly on the basis of evidence and in accordance with the law.” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Friday that Beijing “firmly supports” Hong Kong’s efforts to “safeguard national security in accordance with the law and punish acts that endanger national security.”
During months of testimony, Lai described himself on at least two occasions as a “political prisoner,” prompting rebukes from the bench. He denied ever calling for sanctions against China or Hong Kong, advocating separatism, or supporting violent resistance. Defending Apple Daily’s editorial stance, he told the court: “The core values of Apple Daily are actually the core values of the people of Hong Kong… rule of law, freedom, pursuit of democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly.”
The newspaper was forced to cease operations in June 2021 after police raids and the arrest of senior editors. Its assets were subsequently frozen.
Fresh concern over Lai’s deteriorating health surfaced this month when his daughter, Claire Lai, told reporters in Washington that his fingernails “turn almost purple, grey and greenish before they fall off” and that his teeth are “getting rotten.” Hong Kong prison authorities responded last week that Lai is “receiving “appropriate treatment and care” and is handled “in the same way as other persons-in-custody.”
As Monday’s verdict approaches, the case is widely viewed as a decisive marker of how far Hong Kong’s once-cherished judicial independence and press freedoms have eroded since the 2020 national security law took effect.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from UCA News
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