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Helen Davidson
Those messages are from before the national security law was imposed. But judge Esther Toh is saying the meetings sought to arrange for US sanctions, blockade or other hostile activity against China and Hong Kong in relation to the proposed extradition bill which sparked the 2019 protests.
Helen Davidson
Toh is reading excerpts from messages about Lai and his close associate Mark Simon arranging meetings with US officials, including former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, former national security advisor John Bolton and other White House figures.
Helen Davidson
Toh says the evidence of Lai’s alleged co-conspirators (who testified against him in trial) was tested, and their evidence remains “solid and irrefutable”.
Helen Davidson
Judge Esther Toh described Lai’s actions as analogous to a US citizen asking for help from Russia to bring down the state of California.
The judge said:
The evidence plainly shows that [Lai] clearly conspired with senior management at Apple Daily and the corporate entities in counts one and two.
There is indisputable evidence that [Lai] conspired with the named conspirators in count three ... to request foreign countries to impose sanctions, blockade, or engage in other hostile activities against the PRC, HKSAR or both.
Judge says Lai 'harboured resentment' for China
Helen Davidson
Judge Esther Toh says she will read the verdict’s last six pages to the court – the concluding remarks.
She says:
It is very clear to us... that their evidence is supported by the Whatsapp messages, many of which emanated from the first defendant himself. It’s also clear to us that [Lai], from long before the national security legislation, had been applying his mind to what leverage the US could use towards the NSC [national security committee].
Toh is referencing evidence given during the prosecution.
There was no doubt the first defendant had harboured his resentment for the PRC [People’s Republic of China] for many of his adult years.
Noting here that Lai is the first defendant. The co-accused are Apple Daily companies.
Helen Davidson
Helen Davidson is reporting live from the courtroom in Hong Kong.
Esther Toh is speaking first, asking there be “no disturbance within this courtroom” during the hearing, and for “decorum” to be observed and maintained after the judges rise.
The full reasons for the verdict are 855 pages long, she says.
The three high court judges have entered the courtroom and taken their seats.
Lai enters court as hearing to begin
The hearing is due to begin and Lai has entered the court, news reports are saying, adding that he waved to his family.
The long-awaited verdicts in Jimmy Lai’s national security trial are one of the city’s most closely watched rulings since its return to Chinese rule in 1997.
The pro-democracy media tycoon and founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily founder has pleaded not guilty to two counts of “conspiracy to foreign collusion” under the security law, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, as well as one count of “conspiracy to publish seditious publications”.
As the Guardian’s Helen Davidson also details in this full report, the case has grown into a wedge between Beijing and many western nations, with Donald Trump reportedly calling for Lai’s release during a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in October.
Lai turned 78 last week and once described himself as a “born rebel”. He loudly defied the Chinese Communist party for years, while amassing millions from his clothing and media empires.
He became a prime target after Beijing imposed the sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, a year after huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests.
Here’s the full report from Davidson, who’s in Hong Kong also covering today’s developments.
Lai’s family arrives at court
We’re seeing images of Jimmy Lai’s wife, Teresa Lai, and son Lai Shun Yan arriving at the courts building ahead of today’s verdicts.
Here are some fresh photos coming in of the scene outside the building in the lead-up to the Jimmy Lai verdicts being handed down.
Earlier this month Jimmy Lai’s children voiced new alarm over the incarcerated tycoon’s health, describing his dramatic weight loss, teeth rotting and nails falling off.
The report quoted them saying that Lai – was is 78 and has diabetes – had been kept in solitary confinement without air conditioning in a jail where summer temperatures rise to 44C (111F).
“He has lost a very significant amount of weight, visibly, and he is a lot weaker than he was before,” said his daughter Claire Lai, who left Hong Kong after seeing her father several months ago.
His nails turn almost purple, grey and greenish before they fall off, and his teeth are getting rotten.
You can read that story here:
Our correspondent Helen Davidson has posted video footage on Bluesky of scenes outside the West Kowloon law courts ahead of the verdicts being handed down on Jimmy Lai.
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Helen Davidson
As has become usual with these national security cases, there is a large police presence outside the West Kowloon district court.
It’s about two hours from the verdict hearing beginning, and there are officers in plain clothes and uniform everywhere, as well as a massive press pack. Smaller than I have seen before, however, is the queue for the general public.
The day Lai gave testimony, and big days for other cases like that of the Hong Kong 47, have drawn hundreds of people wanting to attend. But today there is perhaps fewer than 100. At least half of them were here last night, when I came by around 10pm.
Some passers-by alleged those people were paid by pro-Beijing groups to sit in the queue and reserve seats that might otherwise be taken by supporters of the defendants, or foreign diplomatic observers. I tried to ask them why they were here, but they all refused to speak to me, and hid behind umbrellas or blankets.
One man, Simon, said he wanted to “give some support to Jimmy Lai and his wife”.
“I believe this will be a bad result,” he said.
They want to put him in prison.
Simon didn’t stay overnight but was back again around 6am this morning. He and a friend are holding bright red apples, to represent the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper that Lai founded and which stands as his co-accused.
It’s now 8.35am in Hong Kong and its high court is set to begin delivering its verdict on the national security charges against Jimmy Lai at 10am (2am GMT).
The three judges delivering the ruling are Esther Toh, Alex Lee and Susana D’Almada Remedios.
If Lai is found guilty, the incarcerated media tycoon will probably be sentenced at a later date and can appeal against the verdict.
Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage of the final stages of the trial of Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong media mogul and pro-democracy activist. Today, we are expecting a verdict on national security charges following a trial that has stretched for more than two years.
The 78-year-old has been in jail since late 2020, on remand and serving several protest-related sentences totalling almost 10 years. He may face a life sentence if found guilty.
Lai had been charged with one count of conspiracy to publish seditious publications and two counts of conspiracy to foreign collusion, charges brought under the city’s punitive national security law, introduced in 2020, and a British colonial-era sedition law that has seen renewed use in recent years by authorities.
Lai countered that he had never tried to influence other countries’ foreign policies on Hong Kong and China through his overseas contacts.
He also distanced himself from violence and separatism, saying that Apple Daily represented Hongkongers’ core values such as “rule of law, freedom, pursuit of democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly”.
We will bring you today’s developments as they happen.
