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All eyes are on Hong Kong as Jimmy Lai’s long-awaited trial begins within the metropolis on Monday
Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s long-awaited trial over fees that he “colluded with foreign forces” has begun in Hong Kong.
The 76-year-old, who has been behind bars since December 2020, could possibly be jailed for all times if he’s discovered responsible.
Mr Lai was arrested beneath the National Security Law, which China has been accused of wielding to crush dissent.
His case has drawn worldwide uproar and is extensively seen as a check of Hong Kong’s judicial independence.
Beijing, which launched the NSL in 2020 in response to large pro-democracy protests, insists that the legislation is critical to quell unrest. It considers Mr Lai a traitor who sought to undermine China’s nationwide safety. But critics say Mr Lai’s case is one more instance of Beijing’s tightening grip on Hong Kong.
Mr Lai’s authorized group stated he has been denied his proper to a good listening to. They level to the truth that he was denied his alternative of authorized illustration, after Beijing barred him from appointing a UK lawyer, and that he’s being tried by three judges handpicked by Hong Kong’s chief John Lee.
“I am gravely concerned that anyone is facing prosecution under the National Security Law, and particularly concerned at the politically motivated prosecution of British national Jimmy Lai,” UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron stated on Sunday, whereas calling for Mr Lai’s launch.
“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,” he added.
Mr Lai, who was born in China and moved to Hong Kong as a baby, is now a UK citizen. His son, Sebastian Lai, has been lobbying the British authorities to intervene on his father’s behalf. He met Mr Cameron earlier this month, drawing Beijing’s ire.
Mr Lai, an outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party, is likely one of the most high-profile folks to be arrested beneath Hong Kong’s National Security Law (NSL).
Before he was detained, he was typically on the frontline of pro-democracy protests, such because the Umbrella Movement of 2014 and demonstrations in opposition to an extradition invoice in 2019. He based and ran a few of Hong Kong’s best-known media retailers, together with the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily.
Mr Lai can be dealing with a sedition cost beneath a colonial-era legislation primarily based on his tweets, interviews he hosted, in addition to articles printed in Apple Daily.
Some of essentially the most critical fees in opposition to Mr Lai are centered on Apple Daily, which he based in 1995. The Chinese-language tabloid had been staunchly essential of Beijing and at one level known as for worldwide sanctions in opposition to Chinese and native officers.
The newspaper was pressured to close down in June 2021, after police froze $2.3m of its belongings, raided its places of work and arrested a few of its prime editors – accusing them of “colluding with foreign forces” to hazard nationwide safety.
Mr Lai was arrested together with six different former Apple Daily executives who’ve pleaded responsible to the fees.
Ahead of Monday’s trial, the courthouse was closely guarded with law enforcement officials in anti-stabbing vests and police canine. Some passers-by have been stopped and searched as dozens of individuals queued to enter the general public gallery, amongst them consulate representatives from Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
Prominent pro-democracy activist, 77-year-old Alexandra Wong, higher often called Grandma Wong, was exterior the court docket – a lone determine, shouting slogans as she was surrounded by police.
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Grandma Wong exterior the courtroom throughout Jimmy Lai’s trial
Since his arrest in August 2020, Mr Lai has been held in solitary confinement in a maximum-security jail for greater than 1,000 days. The trial, which has been delayed for a 12 months, is anticipated to final for about 80 days. It has already sparked requires his launch.
Beijing’s and Hong Kong’s actions have “undermined Hong Kong’s democratic institutions and harmed Hong Kong’s reputation as an international business and financial hub”, US State Department’s spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
Human Rights Watch has condemned Mr Lai’s trial as a “travesty”. The group’s China director Maya Wang known as on “concerned governments” to press authorities to drop Mr Lai’s fees, which she says has “contributed to seriously damaging press freedom in Hong Kong”.
China has denounced what it sees as worldwide intervention in Mr Lai’s case.
“The UK’s backing of an anti-China, Hong Kong destabiliser who broke the law constitutes a flagrant interference in a case that has already entered judicial proceedings,” the Chinese embassy within the UK stated.
Mr Lai’s trial begins two weeks after the conclusion of one other long-running nationwide safety trial of pro-democracy figures often called the Hong Kong 47. A verdict is anticipated in March.
Last week, Hong Kong police supplied a contemporary batch of bounties for data resulting in the arrests of 5 pro-democracy activists who’re residing in exile.
