By James Pomfret ‌and Jessie Pang

HONG KONG, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's High Court on Monday 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.

The landmark case has drawn international scrutiny of Hong Kong's judicial independence ⁠amid a years-long crackdown on rights and freedoms in the global financial hub after ‌2019 pro-democracy protests that Beijing saw as a challenge to its rule.

While 78-year-old Lai's supporters see him as a freedom fighter, Beijing sees him as a mastermind of the protests and a conspirator advocating for U.S. sanctions against Hong Kong and the mainland. Chinese authorities have rejected accusations of eroding the city's rule of law.

"There is no doubt" that Lai "had harboured his resentment and hatred of" China ⁠for many of his adult years, Judge Esther Toh told a packed courtroom as the tycoon, wearing a pale green jumper and a grey jacket, sat with his arms folded. 

The two other judges in his case ​were Alex Lee and Susana D’Almada Remedios.

SENTENCING EXPECTED NEXT YEAR

Lai, the founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily ‌newspaper and one of the most prominent critics of China's Communist Party leadership, ⁠has already spent five years in jail, facing a slew of litigation under the sweeping security legislation that Beijing enacted in response to the 2019 protests.

A pre-sentencing hearing where Lai can plead for lenience is scheduled for January 12. His lawyer Steven Kwan said Lai will decide whether to appeal after the sentencing. 

Hong Kong's national ​security police chief Steve Li said on Monday he welcomed the verdict.

Lai, who suffers from health issues including diabetes and high blood pressure, was found guilty on two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one of conspiracy to publish seditious material. He had pleaded not guilty on all counts. 

The verdict bookends a year that marked the essential disappearance of Hong Kong's democratic opposition under pressure from Beijing. The Democratic Party voted to disband on Sunday. 

Outside the court, people overnight formed a queue more ​than a block long, ‍some with camping gear, seeking to attend the ​verdict.

Police were monitoring the area around the building.

RIGHTS GROUPS CRITICISE THE VERDICT

Lai's trial began in December 2023 in the former British colony that reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, with the verdict seen as a potential fresh diplomatic flashpoint.

Countries including the U.S. and Britain, as well as rights groups, say the trial is politically motivated and have called for Lai's immediate release. U.S. President Donald Trump raised Lai's case with Xi in a meeting in October and has said he would do his utmost to "save" Lai.

Beh Lih Yi, Asia-Pacific director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, called the verdict a "sham conviction" and "a disgraceful act of persecution."

"The ruling underscores Hong Kong’s utter contempt for press freedom," she said. "Jimmy Lai’s only crime ⁠is running a newspaper and defending democracy."

Media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders also described Lai's trial as "a sham." 

The Chinese and Hong Kong governments have said the tycoon's trial was fair and that the national security law treats all equally. They have said ​no freedoms are absolute when it comes to safeguarding national security.

Lai's family say his health has worsened after more than 1,800 days in solitary confinement, and that he suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and heart palpitations. 

His verdict comes at a delicate moment for Hong Kong, where residents have been mourning after a fire last month killed at least 160 people in one of the worst blazes in a residential complex globally in recent years.

Chinese national security authorities ‌have warned they would crack down on any "anti-China" individuals who tried to use the fire to "plunge Hong Kong back into the chaos" of 2019, when massive pro-democracy protests triggered a political crisis.

(Additional reporting by Clare Jim, Joyce Zhou, Anne Marie Roantree, Donny Kwok and Farah Master; writing by Marius Zaharia; Editing by William Mallard, Michael Perry and Kate Mayberry)