Activist Alexandra Wong, also known as Grandma Wong, shouts slogans outside the West Kowloon court on the opening day of the trial of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong on Dec. 18. Mr. Lai is set to stand trial on Dec. 18, where he faces internationally condemned national security charges that could send him to jail for life.PETER PARKS/Getty Images
Western leaders are calling for the immediate release of jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai, on trial Monday for violating Beijing’s national-security law, which was imposed on the territory in 2020 and widely condemned as an attack on dissent and freedom of the press.
Mr. Lai, who turned 76 behind bars in a maximum-security prison earlier this month, founded the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily in 1995. The tabloid-style publication, known for its outspoken criticism of the Chinese Communist Party, became one of Hong Kong’s most popular newspapers until it was shuttered in 2021 amid Beijing’s crackdown on dissidents.
The media tycoon, who is a British citizen, was arrested in August, 2020, under the security law and charged with colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiring with others to publish seditious publications.
If convicted, Mr. Lai could spend the rest of his life in prison. He is currently serving a five-year, nine-month term for fraud, related to a lease dispute at the newspaper’s former headquarters.
Beijing unilaterally inserted the national-security law into Hong Kong’s constitution in 2020, after two years of pro-democracy protests led President Xi Jinping to crack down. The law’s broad terms give authorities sweeping powers to arbitrarily imprison people for politically motivated reasons.
The trial, delayed for more than a year, will be a test for judicial independence in the former British colony, which was promised that Western-style civil liberties would remain intact for 50 years after returning to Chinese rule in 1997.
“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,” British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in a statement late Sunday. “I call on the Hong Kong authorities to end their prosecution and release Jimmy Lai.”
The U.S State Department also called for his release, saying “actions that stifle press freedom and restrict the free flow of information” as well as the changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system by Beijing and local authorities have undermined Hong Kong’s democratic institutions and harmed its reputation as an international business and financial hub.
Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai, 72, poses during an interview with AFP at the Next Digital offices in Hong Kong on June 16, 2020.ANTHONY WALLACE/Getty Images
In Ottawa, the House of Commons unanimously adopted a motion last week calling on Hong Kong authorities to release Mr. Lai and cease prosecuting him and others under the national-security law, “whose provisions are inconsistent with international human-rights law.”
On Dec. 5, one of Mr. Lai’s sons, Sebastien Lai, met with Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly to ask for Canada to publicly press for his father’s release.
In London, where he recently met with Mr. Cameron, he told Reuters: “Any talk of justice would be a farce. Everyone knows it’s going to be a show trial.”
Two hours before Mr. Lai’s trial was set to begin Monday, dozens of people were already queued up outside the West Kowloon Law Courts. Some 350 seats had been set aside for the public at the building, which has become iconic of the crackdown involving the national-security law. It has held many of the most high profile hearings.
A handful had camped out since the early hours of the morning, braving chilly temperatures, though the level of support paled to that seen at trials prior to the security law, when activists were often met by large crowds bearing banners and shouting slogans.
Prospective spectators Monday were heavily outnumbered by police, who had set up a large cordon around the building, with riot vans, roadblocks and sniffer dogs deployed. According to local media, thousands of police will patrol the area every day of the trial, expected to last for months.
One woman, veteran protester Alexandra Wong, briefly waved a British flag and shouted “support Apple Daily, support Lai Chee-ying,” Mr. Lai’s Chinese name, before she was hurried away by a large contingent of police.
Jonathan Price, a member of Mr. Lai’s international legal team, noted that Hong Kong’s top security official has boasted of a 100-per-cent conviction rate under the national-security law.
Beijing has said the legislation was needed to restore stability to Hong Kong, while critics say it is dangerously broad, putting anyone attending a peaceful protest or criticizing government at risk of criminal penalties.
“Empirically, we are expecting there to be a conviction at the end of the proceedings, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to have several months of cogent and compelling evidence,” Mr. Price, a barrister with Doughty Street Chambers, said in an interview with The Globe and Mail on Sunday, from London.
“We’re likely to see a desperate attempt, an overreach, establishing some wacky case against Mr. Lai based on his contact with all manner of people and organizations all over the world.
“What we’re anticipating is that the evidence will be presented in a way designed to speak to a domestic audience, trying to paint him as a ringleader of some huge conspiracy of violent and treasonous activists,” he said. “But that’s far from the truth.”
Mr. Price described Mr. Lai as a mild-mannered conservative who sought to preserve Hong Kong’s freedoms under the Sino-British Joint Declaration through peaceful demonstration and the power of journalism.
“There’s no question that it’s political,” he said. “These sorts of trials have no place in a properly functioning modern state, and if Hong Kong wants to pretend that it still is such a place, they need to treat people properly.
Others close to Mr. Lai have noted the use of the law’s powers to deny him bail, block a jury trial, and allow the city’s pro-Beijing leader to appoint three high court judges who will hear the case.
According to Reporters Without Borders, China has used the national-security law to prosecute at least 28 journalists, press-freedom defenders and collaborators in Hong Kong. A dozen remain in detention, including Mr. Lai and six Apple Daily staff members, according to the non-governmental organization, which seeks to safeguard the right to freedom of information.
The Globe reported earlier this month that prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow, who was arrested alongside Mr. Lai, fled to Canada with no plans to return to Hong Kong, in violation of her bail conditions.
“For many people who live in democratic countries, freedom is something they have had since they were born, something they may take for granted,” Ms. Chow told The Globe in an interview from Toronto. “But the experience of these few years has made me feel how important it is.”
With a report from Reuters