Hong Kong court rejects Jimmy Lai challenge to national security body
Lai, the founder of the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, is awaiting trial for 'collusion with foreign forces' – a violation under a security statute Beijing enacted in 2020 to crush dissent
Jimmy Lai has been in prison since December 2020. AFP
A Hong Kong court dismissed a legal appeal by imprisoned pro-democracy media billionaire Jimmy Lai on Friday, admitting it had “no jurisdiction” over Beijing’s national security apparatus in the city.
Lai, the founder of the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, is awaiting trial for “collusion with foreign forces” – a violation under a security statute Beijing enacted in 2020 to crush dissent.
Despite the government’s persistent protests, three tiers of Hong Kong’s courts previously permitted Lai to be defended by veteran British human rights attorney Tim Owen.
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However, Beijing stepped in, in December, stating that municipal leader John Lee would have the authority to prevent foreign attorneys from participating in national security proceedings.
The National Security Committee — a top-level government body answering directly to Beijing — then advised immigration authorities to withhold Owen’s working visa.
High Court judge Jeremy Poon — the same justice who backed Lai’s lawyer choice in a ruling last year — on Friday ruled the media tycoon could not contest the committee.
“(Hong Kong’s) courts have no jurisdiction over the work” of the National Security Committee, he wrote in a decision.
“The supervisory power over the (committee) is hence reserved to the Central People’s Government exclusively.”
Poon’s Friday’s ruling underscores Beijing’s ability to trump Hong Kong courts, despite the city’s guarantee of judicial independence separate from the mainland legal system.
Hong Kong’s common law tradition, left over from British colonial rule and distinct from the mainland system, had been key to its appeal as an international legal and business hub.
But under the security law — imposed by Beijing to stamp out opposition after massive pro-democracy protests in 2019 — critics say Hong Kong has seen its autonomous status and freedoms steadily eroded.
Last week, in an echo of Beijing’s December intervention, the city’s opposition-free legislature imposed a blanket ban on foreign lawyers in national security trials.
Lai’s trial, originally scheduled for December, was postponed to September due to the lawyer dispute.
More than 100 media leaders globally signed a Reporters Without Borders petition this week calling for the 75-year-old’s release.
The Hong Kong government condemned the petition as a “wrongful attempt to interfere with the judicial proceedings”.
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