\n<\/p>\n
Final arguments have concluded in the national security trial of the pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
Government-picked judges are retiring to consider their verdict in the case, seen internationally as a crucial test of the rule of law in the city.<\/p>\n
Lai, 77, has been in prison since 2020, when he was charged with two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiracy to publish seditious material.<\/p>\n
The charges were brought under a sweeping national security law (NSL) imposed by Beijing after anti-government protests in 2019, and a colonial-era sedition law.<\/p>\n
<\/span>A protest over human rights in Hong Kong and the imprisonment of Jimmy Lai.<\/span> Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Often referred to as the Rupert Murdoch of Asia, Lai was one of the few Hong Kong business leaders willing to criticise Beijing, which has labelled him a \u201cmodern-day traitor\u201d and \u201criot supporter\u201d.<\/p>\n The case is the most high-profile example of the Hong Kong government\u2019s crackdown on the pro-democracy opposition in the city under the NSL, which broadly outlawed any act of dissent.<\/p>\n According to his lawyers and family, Lai has various health issues, including a heart problem. He could face life in prison if convicted.<\/p>\n <\/span>Armed police outside West Kowloon magistrates court in Hong Kong.<\/span> Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Asked about the timing of a verdict, one of the three judges overseeing the case said it would be announced \u201cin good time\u201d. Lai\u2019s trial, similar to other national security cases, is being presided over by designated judges instead of a jury, a departure from the city\u2019s common law system.<\/p>\n Closing arguments by the prosecution and the defence began last week, after delays caused by bad weather and then concerns over Lai\u2019s health. They concluded on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n Lai, dressed in a beige linen blazer and white shirt, smiled, nodded and waved at the public gallery before being escorted away by corrections officers. He also raised his thumb a few times.<\/p>\n Prosecutors accused Lai of using his media outlet, Apple Daily, and foreign political connections to lobby for governments to impose sanctions and other punitive measures on Chinese and Hong Kong authorities. They said he showed \u201cunwavering intent\u201d, and that the alleged collaborations were \u201clong-term and consistent\u201d, beyond the introduction of the NSL.<\/p>\n His alleged collaborators included the activist Andy Li and paralegal Chan Tsz-wah, both of whom testified against him at trial, and the Interparliamentary Alliance on China. He was also accused of financing the advocacy group Stand with Hong Kong.<\/p>\n <\/span>Andy Li, a computer programmer turned pro-democracy activist who testified against Lai.<\/span> Photograph: RFA<\/p>\n In court, Lai\u2019s defence team said prosecutors had failed to provide sufficient evidence for the claims of conspiring with Li, Chan, or other alleged co-conspirators to request foreign sanctions after the NSL\u2019s introduction.<\/p>\n Marc Corlett KC said that the prosecution\u2019s submission that Lai stayed in contact with former US defence officials \u201cgoes in no way to demonstrate\u201d their case because those individuals had not been named as \u201cco-conspirators\u201d.<\/p>\n The senior counsel Robert Pang had earlier defended Apple Daily, saying \u201cit is not wrong to support freedom of expression. It is not wrong to support human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n Pang told the court the media\u2019s role was to facilitate public discourse, and that the newspaper\u2019s position was one of a wide variety of views taken by Hong Kong\u2019s many outlets. \u201cApple Daily was not calling for public debate,\u201d he said. \u201cApple Daily was part of the public debate.\u201d<\/p>\n Lai was arrested alongside several others including executives at his company, during a raid on the Apple Daily newsroom and associated locations in August 2020. He was granted bail but then taken into custody in December that year and has remained behind bars ever since, on remand and then serving sentences for other convictions related to pro-democracy protests and fraud charges which his supporters say were trumped up. Apple Daily was forced to close in June 2021.<\/p>\n <\/span>A police officer stands guard outside West Kowloon magistrates court.<\/span> Photograph: Leung Man Hei\/EPA<\/p>\n Foreign governments, legal organisations and rights groups have widely criticised the prosecution of Lai, in particular the ultimately successful efforts of the Hong Kong and Beijing authorities to block his chosen lawyer, the UK barrister Tim Owen KC, from defending him. The authorities have rejected criticism, labelling Lai \u201ca voluntary political tool of foreign forces trying to curb China through Hong Kong\u201d.<\/p>\n The trial stretched to 156 days, far beyond the 80 days initially set down. The closely watched hearings were often attended by supporters and international observers, including foreign diplomats based in the city, who would line up for hours to secure limited seating.<\/p>\n Lai took the stand in November, the first time he had been heard in public since his not guilty plea in January that year. He said he never tried to influence foreign policy or ask foreign officials to take concrete action on Hong Kong.<\/p>\n Shortly after his arrest in 2020, while at home on bail, Lai told the Guardian his case would be a \u201clitmus test\u201d of Hong Kong\u2019s legal system since the NSL. He said the pro-democracy movement\u2019s ultimate goal of gaining complete democracy for Hong Kong was no longer possible, but they had to keep fighting.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know when we\u2019ll win, but we\u2019re so sure we\u2019re on the right side of history, and time is on our side,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Final arguments have concluded in the national security trial of the pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong. Government-picked judges are retiring to consider their verdict in the case, seen internationally as a crucial test of the rule of law in the city. Lai, 77, has been in prison since 2020, when he was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[6987,11258,82,7784,235,7785,11259,120,1242,2131],"class_list":{"0":"post-18449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-arguments","9":"tag-conclude","10":"tag-final","11":"tag-hong","12":"tag-jimmy","13":"tag-kong","14":"tag-lai","15":"tag-national","16":"tag-security","17":"tag-trial"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}