The guilty verdict delivered today by a Hong Kong court against Jimmy Lai, former publisher of newspaper Apple Daily, represents definitive proof that the freedoms and the rule of law that once defined the former British colony are now a thing of the past.
On trumped-up charges of sedition and collusion with foreign forces, the court has stripped a British citizen of his liberty and dealt a severe blow to Hong Kong’s reputation as a place of freedom of expression, press freedom, religious liberty, and free enterprise. After five years of detention—almost entirely spent in solitary confinement—the verdict comes as no surprise and confirms the instrumental use by the Hong Kong authorities of the draconian National Security Law imposed in 2020 to silence dissidents and consolidate Beijing’s control over the territory.
This trial amounts to a sham, initiated after three years of prolonged pre-trial detention, in clear violation of Hong Kong’s Basic Law and the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration. Serious concern over these developments had already been raised during a press conference held on 27 October 2025 at the Italian Senate, which I promoted and which featured interventions by Jimmy Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai; Mark Sabah, Director of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation; Jimmy Lai’s legal counsel, Caoilfhionn Gallagher; Eleonora Mongelli, Secretary of FIDU; moderated by Matteo Angioli, Secretary of the Global Committee for the Rule of Law “Marco Pannella.”
This is a grave case that also highlights Jimmy Lai’s courageous decision to remain in Hong Kong in order to continue speaking out against its authoritarian transformation. As the court moves toward sentencing, calls for his immediate release—on humanitarian grounds due to his deteriorating health—made by the United Nations, the European Union, and the parliaments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Italy must now become even more forceful.
Giulio Terzi