00:00Let's bring up Min Min Lo with the latest. Min Min.
00:06Yes, we just got the verdict. Guilty of all charges.
00:09The sentencing will be announced on a separate day.
00:12But yes, the maximum sentence could be life in prison.
00:16And Jimmy Lai will have up to 28 days to appeal the verdict.
00:22And just now in the courtroom, the judges were reading through some of the WhatsApp messages
00:27between him and his assistant, pointing to how his assistant had helped to set up meetings
00:31between Jimmy Lai and some senior U.S. officials and pointed to how there was indisputable evidence
00:37and said that he had harbored intent to collude with foreign forces and so on.
00:44It was a very long readout of the concluding remarks.
00:48And the total verdict is over 800 pages long, I believe.
00:53And that will be made online later on so we can pour through the details.
00:59But yes, this is, of course, the conclusion of a landmark trial,
01:04a marathon trial that lasted over 150 days.
01:08And it's a very high-profile case because Jimmy Lai is a household name in Hong Kong.
01:13Many people know him as the founder of Apple Daily.
01:16He was a now-defunct newspaper that was a very pro-democracy.
01:22It often urged readers to take to the streets.
01:25It is known for its tabloid-style coverage of politics and of celebrity news as well.
01:31And he was one of the first to be charged under the national security law
01:38after it was imposed by Beijing back in June 2020.
01:41He was arrested and charged in August of that year.
01:46We were talking about how Western governments have been watching this case,
01:49this marathon trial, as you've been reporting, Min Min, for more than 150 days or so.
01:56You know, what likely might occur from this verdict now?
02:01You know, obviously we heard from President Trump.
02:02He's talked about, according to some reports, vowed to save Lai.
02:06You know, is this likely going to raise more tensions abroad?
02:12Yeah, certainly.
02:13I think we'll have to watch closely what is the international reaction after this.
02:17You know, whether there will be more sanctions from the likes of the U.S. and U.K.
02:21on Chinese officials, for example.
02:23We know that already after the imposition of the national security law,
02:27Trump, who was then president, had halted the preferential treatment for Hong Kong
02:33and sanctioned some officials that cracked down on rights.
02:38And certainly President Trump has said that he raised this issue again
02:42when he recently met with President Xi in South Korea in October.
02:46So this could come up once again, maybe when the two presidents meet next year,
02:52could be part of the bargaining chip.
02:54It would be interesting to see whether China would be willing to give Trump a win
02:58by suspending the sentence on medical grounds, for example,
03:01in exchange for some other concessions, perhaps on trade or tariffs.
03:06But suddenly this is all speculation.
03:08At this point, we'll have to see what the international reaction is.
03:10But the U.K. Prime Minister, Keir Starmer,
03:12had also said that it is a priority of his administration
03:15to secure the release of Jimmy Lai.
03:18And many international organizations have been appealing
03:20on humanitarian grounds and on medical grounds to release Jimmy Lai
03:24given the deterioration of his health.
03:26His family members say that he suffers from heart palpitation
03:29and his health has been deteriorating.
03:31His look is visibly thinner over the years.
03:36And we are getting some lies now in terms of the time frame here.
03:40The hearing for the mitigation of Jimmy Lai's case
03:43is set for January 12th.
03:46So that date has been set for the hearing for that.
03:50Min Min, you talk about his health.
03:52You talk about really the significance of this.
03:55This case has largely been seen as sort of a test case
03:59of this national security law when it comes to freedom of press,
04:03when it comes to judicial independence here in the city.
04:06What's the message it's going to send, really,
04:10to the international community with this case?
04:12I mean, it was a clear verdict from the judges.
04:19And obviously, it is sending a message that China is not going to tolerate
04:23any form of, you know, violation of the national security law, right?
04:30The sort of protests that we saw in 2019 and 2020.
04:33Obviously, here at this courthouse, you can see that around me,
04:37there are many police officers just maintaining the security of this place,
04:41ensuring that there is no disturbances,
04:44no sort of large-scale gathering of people
04:47that could spiral out of control.
04:50And even when I was talking to some of the supporters
04:52who queued overnight to go into the courthouse,
04:54many of them were wearing masks or covering their faces with umbrellas,
04:58not very keen to show their face or speak to the media at all.
05:01And there's this sense of cautiousness that everybody is taking here,
05:06especially after, you know, Hong Kong suffered from that deadly fire as well.
05:10Soon after that fire, the National Security Office also warned people
05:16not to use that fire as a pretext to incite chaos in Hong Kong.
05:21So this city has seen a lot of changes.
05:24We have seen the closure of dozens of civil service groups.
05:27Of course, over the weekend as well,
05:28the Democratic Party also voted to dissolve itself.
05:34The former chairwoman, Emily Lau, announced that on Facebook,
05:37marking the end of an opposition party that has been operating since 1994,
05:42a party that has been very outspoken in pushing Beijing for democratic reforms
05:47and calling for universal suffrage in Hong Kong as well.
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