When China passed Hong Kong’s new national security law in June 2020, Lai told the BBC it sounded the “death knell” for the territory.
The influential entrepreneur also warned that Hong Kong would become as corrupt as China. Without the rule of law, he said, its coveted status as a global financial hub would be “totally destroyed”.
The media mogul is known for his frankness and acts of flamboyance.
In 2021, he urged Donald Trump to help the territory, saying he was “the only one who can save us” from China. His newspaper, Apple Daily, published a front-page letter that finished: “Mr President, please help us.”
For Lai, such acts were necessary to defend the city which had taken him in and fuelled his success.
He once told news agency AFP: “I came here with nothing, the freedom of this place has given me everything… Maybe it’s time I paid back for that freedom by fighting for it.”
Lai has been slapped with various charges – including unauthorised assembly and fraud – since 2020.
He has been in custody since December of that year.
The prosecution of Lai has captured international attention, with rights groups and foreign governments urging his release.
Over the years, Sebastien Lai has travelled the world to denounce his father’s arrest and condemn Hong Kong for punishing “characteristics that should be celebrated”.
“My father is in jail for the truth on his lips, courage in his heart, and freedom in his soul,” he had said.