The national security trial of pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong was adjourned Monday after his legal team told the court that he felt unwell.
Lai, 76, has been detained since late 2020. He has pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiring to publish seditious materials.
Lai founded the now-defunct, pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, which the government forced to shutter in 2021. If convicted under the national security law, the British national faces life in prison.
Lai’s appearance in court on Monday marked the 87th day of the trial. His lawyer Robert Pang told the court that Lai was not well, according to media reports.
Lai had visited a doctor on Sunday night and been prescribed painkillers, Pang told the court. The lawyer asked whether Lai could take leave from the court to visit the doctor again.
High Court judge Esther Toh agreed, noting Lai’s age, and adjourned court proceedings until Tuesday.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher, who is leading Lai’s international legal team, expressed concern about Lai in a post on the social media platform X. Noting that the publisher has been in solitary confinement for more than three years, she wrote, “It’s long past time to #FreeJimmyLai.”
The trial and case against Lai have been criticized by the United Nations and foreign governments, including the United States.
Media watchdogs and rights groups say the trial has come to symbolize the rapid deterioration of press freedom in Hong Kong following the introduction of Beijing’s controversial national security law in 2020.
Hong Kong ranks 135 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index. Reporters Without Borders, which compiles the index, says that Hong Kong was once a “bastion of press freedom” but that the region has “suffered an unprecedented series of setbacks” since Beijing introduced the national security law.
The Chinese government and Hong Kong officials have rejected criticism that the law is harming the media environment. Hong Kong officials have also denied that Lai’s trial is bogus.
