Hong Kong's High Court found tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai guilty of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces in the city's highest-profile trial under a China-imposed national security law that could see him jailed for life.

He attributed his rags-to-riches ascent to the freedoms of Hong Kong, and has paid a hefty price for defending them.

Mr Lai’s case looks likely to establish new precedents both legally and socially. The party’s control centres on a national-security law ( NSL ). It was promulgated by the national parliament in Beijing in 2020 in the wake of the unrest in Hong Kong the year before.

Britain should make pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai's release a condition of establishing closer relations with China, Lai's son Sebastien said on Monday after his father was found guilty of sedition and collusion by Hong Kong's High Court.