A Hong Kong court found media tycoon Jimmy Lai guilty of sedition over articles published in his now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, escalating Beijing's crackdown on dissent nearly five years after his initial arrest.
The 77-year-old founder of the pro-democracy outlet faces up to life imprisonment under national security laws imposed in 2020, following separate convictions for collusion with foreign forces that carry potential life terms.
Lai, a vocal critic of China's Communist Party, has remained in solitary confinement since December 2020, with supporters decrying the verdict as politically motivated amid Hong Kong's erosion of freedoms post-2019 protests.
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