Activists and supporters of publisher Jimmy Lai gather for the national security trial in Taipei, Taiwan, on Aug. 24.ChiangYing-ying/The Associated Press
The case against Hong Kong newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai is “detached from any legal, logical, and factual basis” and rife with “Orwellian Doublespeak,” his lawyers said in their closing submission, as Mr. Lai’s marathon national security trial wrapped up this week.
Mr. Lai, 77, was arrested in 2020 amid a crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, after months of often-violent protests the year before prompted Beijing to impose a draconian national security law on the semi-autonomous territory.
Since then, he has spent more than 1,600 days in custody, much of it in solitary confinement, and almost two months testifying on the stand, as prosecutors sought to paint him as a key instigator of the 2019 protests and a nefarious agent of the West.
Facing charges of sedition and colluding with foreign forces, Mr. Lai’s final act as a journalist has been to “speak truth to power” in his own defence, his lawyers wrote in a more than 380-page submission to the court.
“It is not wrong to support freedom of expression. It is not wrong to support human rights,” said barrister Robert Pang. “Nor is it wrong to hope that the government would change its policies, whether through its own internal review or through suggestion or even pressure, whether from inside Hong Kong or out.”
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The national security law under which Mr. Lai has been charged has a more than 90-per-cent conviction rate, and most observers have long predicted the publisher of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper will be found guilty, with many alleging the case against him is predetermined – something the Hong Kong authorities have repeatedly rebutted.
Founded in 1995, two years before Hong Kong’s handover to Chinese rule, Apple Daily was by far the territory’s most-popular tabloid before it was closed down in 2021.
At its best a muckraking investigative outlet that pulled few punches, at its worst a celebrity and scandal-focused pioneer of paparazzi snooping, Apple Daily was always a strident advocate for greater democracy in Hong Kong, cheering on multiple protest movements and holding China’s government to account for promises it made in assuming control over the former British colony. This stand made both the newspaper and Mr. Lai a bête noir for Chinese officials and state media.
Hong Kong pro-democracy businessman Jimmy Lai was provided with medication and a heart monitor for the start of his final submissions in a landmark national security trial, following health concerns over heart palpitations.
Reuters
Mr. Lai’s son Sebastien has said he fully expects his father to be found guilty, and his focus is on securing some kind of compassionate release after conviction. The younger Mr. Lai has been lobbying Western governments to take up Jimmy Lai’s case, including U.S. President Donald Trump, who this month promised Washington would “do everything we can” to help, even potentially raising his case with Chinese Leader Xi Jinping.
And yet, going on court proceedings alone, Mr. Lai’s conviction could feel like less than a done deal. The national security law is not retroactive, and prosecutors have struggled to make their case that an alleged conspiracy by Mr. Lai and others to lobby for international sanctions against Hong Kong and Chinese officials – a crime now but not before July, 2020 – continued beyond the legislation being enacted.
“In August, 2019, it was not possible to have a ‘conspiracy’ in the relevant sense,” Mr. Lai’s lawyers wrote in their submission to the court. “An agreement to carry out a lawful act is not a criminal conspiracy.”
Indeed, they said, the “sheer quantity of evidence” relied upon by the prosecution from before passage of the national security law “serves only to highlight the paucity of evidence” from when the legislation was in force.
“Faced with the discrepancy between the evidence and the prosecution case, the prosecution has dug its heels deep in its closing,” Mr. Lai’s lawyers said.
“Its allegations keep getting wilder, detached from any legal, logical, and factual basis. Bold conclusions are asserted without any attempt to justify them. ... Mr. Lai’s last act as a journalist is to speak truth to power against this Orwellian Doublespeak.”
Prosecutor Anthony Chau argued last week that Mr. Lai had an “unwavering intent” to solicit sanctions through collaborations with foreign officials that were “long-term and persistent,” and extended beyond the passage of the national security law.
The panel of three judges overseeing the case, all hand-picked by Hong Kong leader John Lee to handle national security trials, have at times seemed skeptical of the prosecution’s case, though they have also forcefully challenged Mr. Pang on several occasions.
Last Friday, Justice Esther Toh pointed to recent arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters in the United States and Britain to dismiss Mr. Pang’s assertion that Mr. Lai’s criticisms of China were legally protected speech, arguing all countries had limits on what could be said.
“So it’s good to say, la di da, freedom of expression, it’s not illegal,” Justice Toh said. “Well, that’s true, but it’s not absolute.”
As well as the national security charges, which carry a potential life sentence, Mr. Lai is also accused of breaching a colonial-era sedition law – in force since 1938 – which has been resurrected and widely used by prosecutors since the 2019 protests. His maximum conviction under that law is three years.
During a lengthy back-and-forth with Mr. Pang on Tuesday about the crime of sedition, Justice Toh blamed the media for seeking to “whip the common people into a frenzy” in 2019. Her fellow judge, Alex Lee, also suggested criticisms of the government by Apple Daily from that time could be crimes under the sedition law, the scope of which has been greatly expanded by several recent cases.
Serious questions have been raised about Mr. Lai’s health after his long incarceration, and proceedings were delayed earlier this month so he could be fitted with a heart monitor. Waving and smiling at supporters in court this week however, he seemed healthy and energized.
Final procedural matters are due to wrap up by Thursday, but a verdict may not come for weeks, if not months.