Hong Kong's pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been found guilty of colluding with foreign forces under the city's controversial national security law .
Lai could face life in prison when he is sentenced at a later date.
Hailed by some as a hero and scorned by others as a traitor, the 78-year-old is the most prominent person charged under the law which China introduced in 2020, in response to massive protests which erupted in Hong Kong the year before.
The law criminalises anything Beijing deems to be subversive or secessionist, from chanting slogans to participating in pro-democracy protests. Beijing says it is necessary to maintain stability in Hong Kong but critics say it has effectively outlawed dissent.
Lai's sentencing will come at a later date. He has been detained since December 2020
Hong Kong says Lai has been given a fair trial under the rule of law, but critics say his case shows how the city's legal system has been used to silence political opposition.
His family has voiced concerns about his deteriorating health in detention. This August, his son Sebastien told the BBC that even if his father - a British citizen - got just five years in prison, it was "practically the same as a death penalty."
Mr Lai became one of the fiercest critics of the Chinese state and a leading figure advocating democracy in the former British territory.
"I'm a born rebel," he told the BBC in an interview in 2020, hours before he was charged. "I have a very rebellious character."
Rags to riches
Lai was born in Guangzhou, a city in southern China, to a wealthy family that lost everything when the communists took power in 1949.
He was 12 years old when he fled his village in mainland China, arriving in Hong Kong as a stowaway on a fishing boat.
While working odd jobs and knitting in a small clothing shop he taught himself English. He went from a menial role to eventually founding a multi-million dollar empire including the international clothing brand Giordano.
The chain was a huge success. But when China sent in tanks to crush pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, Lai began a new journey as a vocal democracy activist as well as an entrepreneur.
He started writing columns criticising the massacre that followed the demonstrations in Beijing and established a publishing house that went on to become one of Hong Kong's most influential.
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