A rags-to-riches tycoon, Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai is a self-styled "troublemaker" who has long been a thorn in Beijing's side with his caustic tabloids and unapologetic support for democracy.

Verdicts in the 78-year-old's national security trial are set to be delivered on Monday, a case widely condemned by Western nations as an attack on political liberties and the free press.

Lai told AFP in June 2020 he was "prepared for prison", where he has been since late that year.

Those remarks came two weeks before Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the finance hub after huge, and sometimes violent, pro-democracy protests the previous year.

He was arrested under the new security law that August, fulfilling his prediction that he was a prime target for prosecution.

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