Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been in a high-security prison for more than 1,600 days.
The 77-year-old was arrested over his role in pro-democracy protests in 2019 and has since been charged with various offences, including collusion with foreign forces, as well as sedition under colonial-era laws.
His trial for alleged national security offences has faced lengthy delays, but is due to restart in Hong Kong on Thursday.
Here is everything you need to know about the “world’s most famous prisoner of conscience” and his trial, as it draws ever closer to a long-awaited conclusion.
Who is Jimmy Lai?
Lai was born in mainland China but fled to Hong Kong at the age of 12, after stowing away on a fishing boat. Here, he began working as a child labourer in a garment factory.
He went on to build a fortune with the fashion empire Giordano and, after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, when thousands of people protested for political reforms in Beijing, he became a democracy advocate and turned his hand to newspapers.
Lai during a protest in 2019
Ahead of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong from the UK to China, he started the Chinese-language newspaper Apple Daily in an attempt to maintain freedom of speech.
The paper was staunchly pro-democratic and did not shy away from criticising authorities in Beijing.
Around the same time, in 1994, he became a full British citizen. He has never held a Chinese or Hong Kong passport, but is seen as a Chinese citizen by Hong Kong authorities.
Protesters clash with riot police in 2019. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Why is he in jail?
It was his pro-democratic beliefs that led to Lai becoming a key figure in the 2019 protests in Hong Kong, spurred by Beijing’s tightening squeeze on wide-ranging freedoms. Lai’s Apple Daily newspaper backed the protesters, criticising the government reforms.
Lai and his sons were arrested in August 2020 after police raided the offices of the Apple Daily publisher, Next Digital. He was granted bail, but this was overturned in December of the same year, when Lai was charged with fraud.
Jimmy Lai pictured arriving at court in December 2020. Pic: AP
He was charged under the very national security laws, put in place in 2020, that he had protested.
The charges include collusion with foreign forces, as well as conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications.
Next Digital publishes the Apple Daily newspaper. Pic: AP
A worker packs copies of Apple Daily newspaper. Pic: AP
Lai has been in solitary confinement for most of his imprisonment. During this time, he has lost a significant amount of weight and his son, Sebastien Lai, has consistently raised concerns for his father’s declining health.
His legal team has claimed he has been denied independent medical care for diabetes, is only allowed out of his cell for 50 minutes a day and, as a devout Catholic, has been denied the Eucharist.
However, this week the South China Morning Post has reported a Hong Kong government spokesman saying that Lai had received appropriate treatment and welfare in prison.
Lai shouts slogan before he is taken away by police in 2014. Pic: Reuters
What has happened during his trial so far?
After years of delay, Lai’s national security trial started in December 2023.
Prosecutors allege that Lai conspired with senior executives at Apple Daily to publish 161 seditious articles intended to incite hatred toward the central or Hong Kong governments.
They labelled him a “radical political figure” and accused him of asking the US and other foreign countries to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and mainland China.
The charges he faces under the territory’s national security law could see him handed a life sentence.
But Lai has always denied the charges against him.
Lai arriving at court in 2020. Pic: AP
Nearly a year after the trial started, in November 2024, Lai took to the stand to testify. During his 52 days on the stand he faced questions about his editorial control over Apple Daily, links to activists in Hong Kong, the UK and US – and about alleged meetings with US politicians.
Closing arguments in the trial were due to start on 28 July, but were delayed until 14 August. The next hearing is due to last around eight days.
How is the British government involved?
As he is a British citizen, the UK government expressed concern when Lai was first charged under the national security law in 2020.
Subsequent British governments, including the current Labour one, have said Lai’s imprisonment is a breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration – the 1984 agreement which set out the conditions of the transfer of Hong Kong from the UK to China.
Sebastien Lai handing a letter into 10 Downing Street in March
Three months after winning the general election, Sir Keir Starmer said securing Lai’s release was a “priority” for his government and said his government would “continue” to raise the case with China.
Most recently, during a January trip to China, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she raised the question over Lai’s imprisonment with every minister she met. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he has also pressed Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Lai’s detention during previous visits.
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In March, Lai’s son, Sebastien, delivered a letter to 10 Downing Street asking for a meeting with Sir Keir to get his father released immediately.
He said he was worried his father might die in prison and the case is a “litmus test” for the government to see if it will stand up to China for a British citizen who is in jail “for peaceful campaigning and journalism”.
