Accessibility links

Breaking News

Hong Kong Delays Jimmy Lai Trial


FILE - Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media tycoon Jimmy Lai, right, leaves the Court of Final Appeal during a break in Hong Kong, Dec. 31, 2020.
FILE - Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media tycoon Jimmy Lai, right, leaves the Court of Final Appeal during a break in Hong Kong, Dec. 31, 2020.

A court in Hong Kong has adjourned the trial of newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai until December 13 after the government sought to block a British lawyer from representing Lai.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee asked China’s top lawmaking body to decide whether foreign lawyers could participate in national security cases.

Authorities accuse Lai of colluding with foreign forces, and he is also facing a charge of sedition. If convicted, he faces a possible life sentence.

Lai is the founder of the Apple Daily newspaper that was forced to close in 2021 after its assets were frozen under a security law imposed after pro-democracy protests.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG