Jimmy Lai’s Trial Under National Security Law Delayed Yet Again
Caoilfhionn Gallagher, Sebastien Lai and Beh Lih Yi are pictured after the Committee to Protect Journalist’s event “Imprisoned in Hong Kong: Jimmy Lai and the fight for democracy,” on May 4, 2023. (Photo courtesy CPJ)
(ANALYSIS) On July 25, 2024, a Hong Kong court dismissed Jimmy Lai’s defense’s mid-trial submission of “no case to answer” and adjourned the trial for four months until the end of November 2024, when Lai is expected to give evidence.
Lai, a British citizen, owner of the independent newspaper Apple Daily and pro-democracy and human rights defender, has been detained and subjected to multiple Kafkaesque trials for fighting for freedom of speech and democracy in Hong Kong.
Lai has been subjected to what international lawyers refer to as “lawfare,” namely, a way in which the law is being weaponized to silence and slander reputations. Lawfare has been widely used against journalists and human rights defenders globally.
As part of the lawfare against Lai, he was convicted of unauthorized assembly in 2021 for his participation in pro-democracy protests and sentenced to 17 months in prison. He was sentenced to an additional 5 years and 9 months for alleged fraud in October 2022. He is now facing a trial under the controversial National Security Law (NSL).
The NSL has been criticized by many governments, international bodies, experts and civil society organizations for its flagrant contravention of international legal standards, as being dangerously vague and broad and, as such, being an invitation to abuse. In 2023, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong, a cross-party group of legislators in the British Parliament, indicated that “NSL was a turning point in accelerating and deepening an already growing crisis to freedom of expression and the Rule of Law in Hong Kong.”
Reportedly, since its enactment in 2020, the NSL has led to the arrests of over 200 people, including 12 children. In December 2023, the then U.K.’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that “Hong Kong’s National Security Law is a clear breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Its continued existence and use is a demonstration of China breaking its international commitments. It has damaged Hong Kong, with rights and freedoms significantly eroded. Arrests under the law have silenced opposition voices.”
As the United Nations’ experts raised, “national security legislation with criminal sanctions should never be misused against those exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association and of peaceful assembly, nor to deprive such persons of their personal liberty through arrest and detention.” However, this is precisely how the law is being used in Hong Kong, especially against pro-democracy and human rights defenders.
In addition to the inherent risks of the NSL, Lai is also subjected to his right to a fair trial being severely limited and violated. Lai’s trial for alleged sedition and alleged “collusion with foreign forces” contrary to the draconian NSL has already faced serious delays.
His trial, initially set to begin in 2022 and after repeated adjournment, first began on Dec. 18, 2023. It was originally estimated to last 80 days, but the prosecution case ran from Dec. 18, 2023, until June 11, 2024. The mid-trial submissions could not be listed until July 24-25, due to restricted judicial availability.
Furthermore, the latest adjournment and delay in Lai’s trial comes amid mounting concerns regarding his continued imprisonment and prosecution in Hong Kong. Lai, who will turn 77 later this year, has been imprisoned in a maximum-security Hong Kong prison, in solitary confinement, since December 2020.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, lead of Lai’s international legal team, commented that he has spent three and a half years in prison and that during the June 2024 hearing, he did not look well. Subsequently, the media reported on Lai seeking medical assistance.
The right to a fair trial, as per international standards, requires that those charged with a criminal offense have the right to be tried without undue delay. This right is not only designed to avoid keeping persons too long in a state of uncertainty about their fate and to ensure that such deprivation of liberty does not last longer than necessary in the circumstances of the specific case but also to serve the interests of justice.
This guarantee relates not only to “the time between the formal charging of the accused and the time by which a trial should commence but also the time until the final judgment is on appeal. All stages, whether in first instance or on appeal must take place ‘without undue delay.’”
The case of Lai requires urgent international attention. With his latest trial continuously delayed, and as his health deteriorating, time is of the essence.
This piece was republished from Forbes with permission.
Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab is a human rights advocate, author and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. She’s authored the book “Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East” and more than 30 UN reports. She works on the topic of genocide and persecution of ethnic and religious minorities around the world. She is on X @EwelinaUO.