Closing arguments conclude in Hong Kong mogul Jimmy Lai’s trial

[ad_1] Closing arguments ended Thursday within the nationwide safety trial of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, though judges didn't say after they would render a verdict.

Choose Esther Toh, a member of the three-judge panel overseeing the case, mentioned the court docket will launch extra particulars “in good time.”

The 77-year-old founding father of the now-shuttered Apple Day by day newspaper faces life in jail if convicted of unlawful international collusion beneath Hong Kong’s restrictive Nationwide Safety Legislation, which was imposed by Beijing in 2020 after the huge pro-democracy protests of 2019.

<img data-chromatic="ignore" alt="A police officer stands outside the West Kowloon court where jailed Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai's national security trial is taking place in Hong Kong on Aug. 28, 2025." class="c-image" loading="lazy" src="https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/EK7L3S3IEFH4RPRIINRJYE7Y3U.JPG?auth=41bd4b23db436e59f4a5334a39e7ac517681ba7d965f1532ef2dd7d647893474&width=800&height=533" srcset="https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/EK7L3S3IEFH4RPRIINRJYE7Y3U.JPG?auth=41bd4b23db436e59f4a5334a39e7ac517681ba7d965f1532ef2dd7d647893474&width=274&height=182 274w, https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/EK7L3S3IEFH4RPRIINRJYE7Y3U.JPG?auth=41bd4b23db436e59f4a5334a39e7ac517681ba7d965f1532ef2dd7d647893474&width=400&height=266 400w, https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/EK7L3S3IEFH4RPRIINRJYE7Y3U.JPG?auth=41bd4b23db436e59f4a5334a39e7ac517681ba7d965f1532ef2dd7d647893474&width=768&height=511 768w, https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/EK7L3S3IEFH4RPRIINRJYE7Y3U.JPG?auth=41bd4b23db436e59f4a5334a39e7ac517681ba7d965f1532ef2dd7d647893474&width=1024&height=682 1024w, https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/EK7L3S3IEFH4RPRIINRJYE7Y3U.JPG?auth=41bd4b23db436e59f4a5334a39e7ac517681ba7d965f1532ef2dd7d647893474&width=1440&height=959 1440w" width="800" height="533"/> hong-kong-jimmy-lai-china A police officer stands outdoors the West Kowloon court docket the place jailed Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai's nationwide safety trial is happening in Hong Kong on Aug. 28, 2025. (Vernon Yuen/AFP) Lai, who has denied the costs, has spent greater than 4 years in jail. He appeared in court docket in a white shirt and tan jacket, the place he smiled and waved to supporters, in keeping with an Agence France-Presse report.

On the trial, prosecutors mentioned he masterminded conspiracies involving Apple Day by day executives and an internet of international connections to request international actions in opposition to China and Hong Kong across the time of the 2019 protests.

Protection attorneys mentioned that Lai ended these actions earlier than the nationwide safety legislation took impact in June 2020.

Closing arguments within the trial had been delayed twice this month: as soon as resulting from climate, and as soon as out of concern for Lai’s well being. Earlier this 12 months, Lai’s son warned that his father’s well being was declining resulting from his imprisonment, a lot of that point spent in solitary confinement. Press freedom and human rights organizations have additionally cited Lai’s well being in calls to launch him.