Hong Kong Jails Newspaper Owner For Sedition, Aliens Not Yet Charged
KEY POINTS
- •Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai was convicted on sedition and foreign collusion charges on April 1, 2024.
- •Lai has been detained since 2020 and risks a life sentence under Beijing’s national security law imposed after 2019 protests.
- •Donald Trump vowed to raise Lai’s case at his upcoming October meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, while U.S. government agencies remain silent.
In an episode straight out of a dystopian TV drama, Hong Kong’s former Apple Daily tycoon Jimmy Lai, 78-year-old and British, has been found guilty of sedition and 'colluding with foreign forces'—which sounds like the plot of a rejected Bond villain origin story. Detained since 2020, Lai now faces life in prison thanks to Beijing's national security law, introduced after protests in 2019. Meanwhile, Donald Trump, who swore he'd 'do everything' to save Lai before his scheduled October schmooze with Xi Jinping, appears to be the last diplomat on Lai's speed dial — because the White House and State Department stayed off the news radar, ghosting Axios requests like a bad Tinder date. The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong called the charges 'trumped-up,' clearly skilled with puns, urging immediate sanctions against officials. Meanwhile, Lai's previous conviction for fraud rounds out his legal playlist like the world's most depressing mixtape.
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Jimmy Lai got sentenced for ‘sedition and foreign collusion’—sounds like Beijing's national security drama crashed harder than any streaming service with buffering issues.
Hong Kong found Jimmy Lai guilty of sedition. Plot twist: The real foreign force? His editorial staff’s caffeine intake.
Donald Trump promises to save Jimmy Lai at an October Xi meeting. Because nothing says ‘diplomacy’ like saving a political prisoner in the middle of a global attention deficit.
Source: Axios | Published: 12/15/2025 | Author: Rebecca Falconer
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