QUOTES-Reaction to Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai's guilty verdict in national security trial

Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai was found guilty on Monday of two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of sedition under a China-imposed national security law that could see him jailed for life.

Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai was found guilty on Monday of two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of sedition under a China-imposed national security law that could see him jailed for life. Lai had pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, and a charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material.

Following are comments on the verdict: COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS:

"This sham conviction is a disgraceful act of persecution. The ruling underscores Hong Kong's utter contempt for press freedom, which is supposed to be protected under the city's mini-constitution, the Basic Law. Jimmy Lai's only crime is running a newspaper and defending democracy. The risk of him dying from ill health in prison increases as each day passes — he must be reunited with his family immediately." MARK SABAH, UK AND EUROPE DIRECTOR, COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM IN HONG KONG (CFHK) FOUNDATION:

"This verdict should surprise absolutely no one." "The trial against Jimmy Lai has been a grotesque exercise in legal subversion and chicanery — a show trial masquerading as justice. But what's actually been on display is the complete and total destruction of Hong Kong's reputation as a global legal centre.

"Jimmy Lai is a British citizen. His release should be a condition of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's planned trip to Beijing in January."

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