A Hong Kong appellate court on Thursday quashed fraud convictions against one-time media magnate Jimmy Lai, a rare victory in the prominent activist’s legal battles.Jimmy Lai, 78, an outspoken critic of China’s ruling Communist Party who founded the now-defunct Apple Daily, will stay in prison as he was sentenced to 20 years, weeks ago after being convicted in another case brought under aChina-imposed national security law.That came more than five years after he was arrested under the law, which was used in a years-long crackdown on many of Hong Kong’s leading activists.The conviction that was overturned on Thursday was from an earlier fraud case in which prosecutors alleged that a consultancy firm controlled by Lai had used office space that his media business rented for publication and printing purposes.