Jimmy Lai’s Security Trial Begins in Hong Kong Amid International Uproar

The pro-democracy media tycoon has been in jail for three years, accused of ‘collusion with foreign forces.’

By Taejun Kang for RFA/Taipei,Taiwan

Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy media tycoon from Hong Kong, appeared in court Monday for alleged national security violations, with several Western governments and human rights groups urging his immediate release.

Lai, 76, who has been detained since December 2020, arrived in court at 10 a.m., amid tight security on charges of conspiring with foreign forces in violation of the National Security Law, or NSL, that China imposed on the city in June 2020.

Beijing introduced the NSL in response to massive pro-democracy protests, insisting that the law was necessary to quell unrest. The law criminalizes several broadly defined offenses including secession, subversion, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist activities.

A year after it was imposed, Amnesty International said the law had “decimated” the city’s rights and freedoms.

One of the most outspoken critics of China, Lai, the publisher of the now-defunct Apple Daily, was initially detained in August 2020 during a police raid on the newspaper’s officers.

Lai was often at the frontline of pro-democracy protests, such as the Umbrella Movement in 2014 and demonstrations against an extradition bill in 2019.

The trial before three national security judges, without a jury, at the city’s High Court is expected to last 80 days. It was scheduled to commence a year ago but postponed subsequent to the government’s objection to the selection of defense counsel Timothy Owen, a barrister based in the U.K., and its pursuit of intervention from Beijing.

Lai and the Apple Daily are also both subject to accusations under a British colonial-era sedition law. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Lai’s case has caused an international uproar and is widely regarded as a test of the city’s judicial independence.

Late Sunday, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he was “gravely concerned” about the trial, calling for the immediate release of Lai, a British citizen.

“As a prominent and outspoken journalist and publisher, Jimmy Lai has been targeted in a clear attempt to stop the peaceful exercise of his rights to freedom of expression and association,” Cameron said in a statement, adding that the security law was in breach of the commitments China made to Hong Kong when it resumed sovereignty over the territory in 1997.

The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration included a promise to retain Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms for 50 years after it was returned to China’s rule.

“I urge the Chinese authorities to repeal the National Security Law and end the prosecution of all individuals charged under it,” Cameron said.

“I call on the Hong Kong authorities to end their prosecution and release Jimmy Lai.”

Separately, the United States called for Lai’s immediate release and condemned the prosecution.

“Lai has been held in pre-trial detention for more than 1,000 days, and Hong Kong and Beijing authorities have denied him his choice of legal representation,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. “We call on Hong Kong authorities to immediately release Jimmy Lai and all others imprisoned for defending their rights.”

Ahead of the trial, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists also released a statement, calling for the city to release Lai, while Human Rights Watch condemned the trial as a “travesty.”

Edited by Mike Firn.