Hong Kong Wraps up Pro-Democracy Tycoon Jimmy Lai’s Security Trial

The 77-year-old Lai faces possible life imprisonment.
Hong Kong Wraps up Pro-Democracy Tycoon Jimmy Lai’s Security Trial
A correctional services van (L), holding media tycoon Jimmy Lai, arrives at the West Kowloon court for his national security trial in Hong Kong on Aug. 28, 2025. Vernon Yuen/AFP via Getty Images
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HONG KONG—A Hong Kong court said it will deliver its verdict in media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s national security trial at a later date, after closing submissions concluded on Thursday, in a case that has drawn global attention as a test of the rule of law in the Chinese-ruled financial hub.

The 156-day trial, which began in December 2023, has become the most high-profile example of the Chinese communist regime’s crackdown on rights and freedoms in the Asian financial hub under a sweeping national security law that was imposed by Beijing after mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.