Foreign secretary and rights groups say guilty verdict on security charges is another blow to press freedom in territory

The UK government and international rights groups have condemned the conviction of former pro-democracy newspaper owner and British citizen Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong on national security charges.

On Monday, Lai, 78, was found guilty in West Kowloon district court on one count of conspiracy to publish seditious publications and two counts of conspiracy to foreign collusion. The charges were brought under the city’s punitive national security law (NSL), introduced in 2020, and a British colonial-era sedition law that has been used in recent years by authorities.