A vehicle carrying Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai arrives outside the West Kowloon court where Lai's national security trial is being held in Hong Kong on Monday.ISAAC LAWRENCE/AFP/Getty Images
The national security trial of Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai resumed Monday in Hong Kong, amid intensifying criticism from the West and calls for authorities to release the 77-year-old.
Mr. Lai, a British citizen, has spent more than 1,600 days in custody, and almost two months testifying on the stand, since his arrest on national security charges in 2020. Prosecutors have tried to paint the media mogul as the architect of widespread anti-government protests that rocked Hong Kong in 2019, and accused him of leading a campaign to get foreign governments to sanction Hong Kong and Chinese officials.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges of sedition and conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. If convicted, Mr. Lai could face up to life in prison, and even a shorter sentence could see the diabetic septuagenarian die in custody, his supporters have warned.
Jimmy Lai, seen in a 2020 interview.Vincent Yu/The Associated Press
Closing arguments in Mr. Lai’s trial were due to begin last week, but were delayed twice, once due to a torrential rainstorm that forced businesses across Hong Kong to close, and again after judges raised concerns Mr. Lai was not wearing a doctor-recommended heart monitor to Friday’s hearing.
Mr. Lai’s family and supporters have repeatedly raised concerns about his health, but the prosecution said Mr. Lai had been deemed fit to attend court after he was provided with the recommended monitor and medication.
Monday’s hearing focused on granular issues of precedence and law, as lead prosecutor Anthony Chau summarized what he said was an 860-page closing submission to the court.
In particular, he was keen to show that an alleged conspiracy Mr. Lai entered into before the promulgation of China’s 2020 National Security Law could be said to have continued after that legislation made his actions illegal. The NSL is not retroactive, and Mr. Lai’s defence has argued it essentially terminated any alleged agreements, unless prosecutors could show Mr. Lai renewed them in full knowledge he was now breaking the law.
The alleged conspiracy involves Mr. Lai’s connections with other pro-democracy activists around the world and lobbying of foreign governments to sanction China over its crackdown on the 2019 protests. Such action was not illegal prior to the NSL coming into force, and multiple witnesses have testified they only ever intended to take actions that were within the law of the time.
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
A verdict may take weeks or months to deliver, after the three-judge panel considers the many reams of evidence provided by both legal teams.
Since Mr. Lai’s initial arrest, there have been repeated calls for his release and criticism of his treatment by Western governments and human rights groups.
Last month, in a report on Hong Kong’s deteriorating freedoms since the passage of the 2020 national security law, Amnesty International said in a report that Mr. Lai and six senior staff members of the Apple Daily newspaper had been “targeted for their journalistic work.”
Reporters Sans Frontières said Mr. Lai “has been subjected to inhumane conditions, stripped of every shred of dignity and freedom.”
“His treatment exposes the authorities’ ruthless determination to silence and suppress one of the most prominent advocates for press freedom amid Hong Kong’s rapidly deteriorating media landscape,” Antoine Bernard, RSF’s director of advocacy and assistance, said in a statement last week.
Asked about Mr. Lai on Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated a promise he made during his election campaign to try and free him, saying Washington would “do everything we can” to help, including potentially bringing the matter up directly with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Criticism of Hong Kong has been growing in the West over Mr. Lai’s trial and recent cash rewards issued for activists that have fled overseas. In a statement last week, the G7 said bounties placed on Hong Kongers for “exercising their freedom of expression” were an act of transnational repression that “undermines national security, state sovereignty, human rights, and the safety of communities.”
One of those targeted, former lawmaker Ted Hui, said Saturday he had received asylum in Australia, more than four years after he fled Hong Kong facing various criminal charges related to his political activity.
Writing on Facebook, Mr. Hui expressed relief, but said it was bittersweet.
“If it weren’t for political persecution, I would never have thought of living in a foreign land. Immigrants can always return to their hometowns to visit relatives at any time. Exiles have no home.”