The trial of Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy media tycoon jailed for national security crimes, will serve as a "litmus test" for how China views the freedoms of semi-autonomous Hong Kong, his son told AFP in an interview.
The 75-year-old British citizen and founder of the now-shuttered tabloid Apple Daily has been behind bars in Hong Kong since 2020, awaiting trial for alleged "collusion with foreign forces".
Initially scheduled to start a year earlier, Jimmy Lai's trial has been twice postponed and is now slated for December 18.
He was also denied his choice of legal representation, London-based lawyer Tim Owen.
In an interview in Taipei, his son Sebastien Lai said the postponements and other legal obstacles made it clear that "it's a kangaroo court".
"My father's case is… an opportunity for Hong Kong to show whether they are actually rule-of-law compliant, whether they respect all the values they say they respect," said the 29-year-old.
The world "should be paying attention to my father's case, to the case of Hong Kong", he said.
"Hong Kong has always been a litmus test for how China views the world and how they view the liberties that we have in the free world. Now my father stood really at the front of that."
"He's a man who decided to sacrifice everything that he has for these ideals of freedom… so how the Hong Kong government treats my father is how the whole government views these freedoms."
While awaiting trial for collusion, Jimmy Lai has been sentenced for attending four pro-democracy protests and for an additional charge of "fraud" — convictions that together came with sentences of more than seven years.
The Hong Kong government in March hit out at Sebastien Lai for bringing his father's case to the United Nations, calling it "foreign interference" with the city's judicial proceedings.
– Rags to riches –
If convicted, Jimmy Lai — who will turn 76 in December — faces up to life in prison under a national security law Beijing imposed on the financial hub in 2020.
The law's aim was to quash dissent following massive, and at times violent, pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019, which brought hundreds of thousands to the streets to demand greater freedoms for the semi-autonomous city.
In the three years since the law's passage, prominent opposition lawmakers and democracy activists have either been jailed or fled abroad, and the city's once-vibrant civil society is now a shadow of its former self.
"I think he'd be very heartbroken (by the current state of Hong Kong)," Sebastien Lai said.
"But Dad always looks forward."
Born in mainland China, Jimmy Lai was smuggled into Hong Kong at the age of 12 and worked in sweatshops before he founded a hugely successful clothing empire.
He started Apple Daily in 1995, a tabloid that mixed heady sensationalism with hard-hitting political reportage.
An early ad for Apple Daily — one of many yellowed clippings Sebastien Lai has saved in his Taipei home — showed Jimmy Lai perched on a motorcycle and beaming as he held up the crimson fruit.
The paper openly backed Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement in 2019, and Jimmy Lai was labelled a "traitor" by China's state media.
Six staff members were also detained and pleaded guilty to collusion.
They face possible life imprisonment under the security law.
– 'Oldest political prisoner' –
Today, Jimmy Lai is "the oldest political prisoner in Hong Kong", said Sebastien Lai, adding that Britain has yet to call for his father's release.
"It's so important that they do that because my father is a British citizen… he has fought to uphold the promise that the UK and China made to the people of Hong Kong during the handover," he said.
Showing off an old photo enclosed in a faded Disney frame of his father gazing at him, Sebastien Lai said his father "always let us pursue whatever we wanted to pursue".
"I have to be optimistic" about the upcoming trial, he told AFP.
"This is a long fight, but it's not one that I would shy away from."
Final debates begin in Hong Kong's largest security trial
Hong Kong (AFP) Nov 29, 2023 –
Hong Kong's largest-ever national security trial began final arguments Wednesday, more than 1,000 days after authorities filed charges against 47 democracy activists under a law imposed by China to quell dissent.
The defendants represent a cross-section of Hong Kong's opposition — from democratically elected lawmakers to unionists and academics — which has been effectively squashed after China imposed a sweeping national security law on the city in 2020.
Critics say the law undermined civil liberties that were meant to be enshrined under a 1997 agreement to hand the former British colony back to China.
But the government said the law was needed to crack down on major crimes such as collusion and secession after Hong Kong saw massive — and at times violent — pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019.
The group of 47 were charged with "conspiracy to subvert state power" and face up to life in prison in a case widely considered a bellwether of Hong Kong's political environment.
The activists were accused of organising, joining and supporting an unofficial primary election in July 2020 to coordinate candidates for the city's legislature.
Protesting outside the court on Wednesday was Alexandra Wong, a well-known activist nicknamed "Grandma Wong", who waved the Union Jack and held a sign saying "Free 47, Free all".
"I hope they can be released immediately. The 47 only wanted to fight for genuine universal suffrage for us, (there were) no other motives, not to take the power," Wong told AFP.
Prosecutors said the defendants planned to seize a legislative majority to force Hong Kong authorities to meet the "five demands" raised by protesters in 2019.
The demands included launching an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality against protesters and gaining universal suffrage for both the city's leader and lawmakers.
Prosecutors also allege the defendants intended to veto the government's budgets with the intent of forcing the chief executive to step down.
Lead prosecutor Jonathan Man argued on Wednesday that the activists should be convicted even if no violence was involved, as it had become easier for people to manipulate public communication channels to subvert state power.
"We are talking about a conspiracy to have legislators vetoing the budget indiscriminately," Man said.
The national security law was "meant to be a strong law" and should not be narrowly interpreted, he added.
The defence earlier argued that the activists were only planning to exercise legislators' constitutional powers and did not believe they would break the law.
– 'Troubled' –
The group of 47 were first charged in March 2021. Most were denied bail and have since remained in jail.
Thirty-one defendants have pleaded guilty.
The trial has been conducted without a jury — a major departure from the city's 178-year-old common law tradition — as ordered by the secretary for justice to prevent risks including the "involvement of foreign elements".
The case is heard by three senior High Court judges, who are among a pool of jurists handpicked by Hong Kong's leader.
In October, a group of UN human rights experts expressed concerns about the trial.
"We are very troubled about the use of mass trials in NSL cases and how they may negatively affect safeguards that ensure due process and the right to fair trial," the experts said.
The last round of legal arguments — also known as the closing submissions — is expected to last 10 days before the court adjourns to consider the verdict.
