Final stage of Jimmy Lai's landmark national security trial to begin
Date: 02:04 BST
Title: What is Hong Kong's national security law?
Content: Beijing introduced the controversial national security law in Hong Kong in 2020, in response to pro-democracy protests that had erupted the year before.
The law criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. These offences are punishable with a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The law also contains provisions allowing some trials to be heard behind closed doors; giving Beijing power over how the law should be interpreted; and letting some cases be tried in mainland China.
Critics have called it "the end of Hong Kong" and say it has created a climate of fear in the city.
But Beijing and Hong Kong authorities argue the law is necessary to maintain stability and deny it has weakened autonomy.
More than 300 people - protesters, pro-democracy politicians and journalists - have been arrested under the law.
Read more about the national security law.
Update:
Date: 01:50 BST
Title: Who is Jimmy Lai?
Content: Jimmy Lai was born in 1947 in Guangzhou, a city in southern China, to a wealthy family that lost everything when the communists took power two years later.
He was 12 years old when he fled his village in mainland China, arriving in Hong Kong as a stowaway on a fishing boat.
While working odd jobs and knitting in a small clothing shop, he taught himself English. He went from a menial role to eventually founding a multi-million dollar empire including the international clothing brand Giordano.
When China sent in tanks to crush pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, Lai began a new journey as a democracy activist, as well as an entrepreneur.
He wrote columns criticising the Tiananmen Square massacre and launched pro-democracy titles like Next Magazine and tabloid paper Apple Daily.
Many in Hong Kong hailed him as a defender of freedom though others in the mainland viewed him as a "traitor".
Read more about Jimmy Lai's life here.
Update:
Date: 01:45 BST
Title: Welcome to our live coverage
Content: A court in Hong Kong is set to begin hearing closing arguments from prosecution and defence lawyers in the national security case against Jimmy Lai, one of the city's most influential pro-democracy figures.
The 77-year-old has been accused of collusion with foreign forces and sedition - and could face life in jail if found guilty.
He is one of hundreds of activists, lawmakers and protesters that have been detained since Beijing imposed a controversial National Security Law (NSL) - though he is arguably the most prominent person to be charged with violating the NSL so far.
Beijing says the NSL is needed to quell unrest in the former British territory, but critics argue that it has been used to crush dessent.
Lai - who is a UK citizen - has been held in solitary confinement since December 2020.
Stay with us as as we bring you live updates from the court.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
42 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump says he does not believe Xi will act on Taiwan
WASHINGTON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Chinese President Xi Jinping told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office. Trump made the comments in an interview with Fox News, ahead of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. "I will tell you, you know, you have a very similar thing with President Xi of China and Taiwan, but I don't believe there's any way it's going to happen as long as I'm here. We'll see," Trump said during an interview on Fox News' "Special Report." "He told me, 'I will never do it as long as you're president.' President Xi told me that, and I said, 'Well, I appreciate that,' but he also said, 'But I am very patient, and China is very patient.'," Trump said. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump and Xi held their first confirmed call of Trump's second presidential term in June. Trump also said in April that Xi had called him but did not specify when that call took place. China views Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to "reunify" with the democratic and separately governed island, by force if necessary. Taiwan strongly objects to China's sovereignty claims. Although Washington is Taiwan's main arms supplier and international backer, the U.S. - like most countries - has no formal diplomatic ties with the island.
The Guardian
42 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Trump says Xi told him China will not invade Taiwan while he is in office
The US president, Donald Trump, has said that his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office. Trump made the comments in an interview with Fox News on Friday, ahead of talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. 'I will tell you, you know, you have a very similar thing with President Xi of China and Taiwan, but I don't believe there's any way it's going to happen as long as I'm here. We'll see,' Trump said during an interview on Fox News' Special Report. 'He told me, 'I will never do it as long as you're president'. President Xi told me that and I said, 'Well, I appreciate that', but he also said, 'But I am very patient and China is very patient',' Trump said. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump and Xi held their first confirmed call of Trump's second presidential term in June. Trump also said in April that Xi had called him but did not specify when that call took place. China views Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to 'reunify' with the democratic and separately governed island, by force if necessary. Taiwan strongly objects to China's sovereignty claims. Although Washington is Taiwan's main arms supplier and international backer, the US – like most countries – has no formal diplomatic ties with the island.
Times
4 hours ago
- Times
US and UK must turn up heat on China over Jimmy Lai trial
Jimmy Lai has been charged under the same national security laws that he once dubbed 'a death knell for Hong Kong' and against which his tabloid newspaper, Apple Daily, had campaigned VINCENT YU/AP If courage has a representative, his name is Jimmy Lai. The 77-year-old media magnate and British citizen has been imprisoned for more than 1,600 days, a prolonged ordeal which began with his arrest in 2020 over his role in pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. He appeared in court on Friday to hear the closing arguments in the case brought against him by the authorities. Within a short time, however, the court was adjourned over Mr Lai's ill health. It will resume on Monday. The newspaper proprietor has been charged under the same national security laws that he once dubbed 'a death knell for Hong Kong' and against which his tabloid newspaper, Apple Daily, had campaigned. The prosecutors allege collusion with foreign powers — potentially carrying a life sentence — and that he published seditious articles intended to incite hatred or contempt towards the Beijing or Hong Kong governments. Mr Lai vigorously denies the charges, contending that he was peacefully exercising and supporting freedom of speech, as protected under the Basic Law agreed when the territory passed from British to Chinese rule in 1997. After years of delay Mr Lai's national security trial began in December 2023. From November last year he gave evidence in his own defence for a gruelling 50 days. Onlookers might reasonably conclude that the dragged-out process has become part of the intended punishment for public dissent. And although Mr Lai's spirit clearly remains undiminished, his body is increasingly weak: he suffers from diabetes and a heart condition and his family fear that under continuing detention, which has been spent in solitary confinement, his health is rapidly deteriorating. • Refugee to riches: the brash billionaire who took on Beijing (and is now in jail) In earlier days Mr Lai could have chosen to leave Hong Kong to protect himself from vengeful persecution. That he didn't is testament to his strength of character and the depth of his belief in democracy. It is a source of regret that some British judges, who still sit in Hong Kong's court of final appeal, have not displayed the same intellectual and moral clarity. One of them, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, a former president of the UK's Supreme Court, served on a judicial panel which last year upheld the conviction of Mr Lai and other pro-democracy activists on a previous charge related to a peaceful protest in 2019. The argument that British judges could help to prop up an embattled legal system in Hong Kong has gradually crumbled in the face of Beijing's growing authoritarianism. Now their presence more resembles a gilded façade on a process riddled with rot. Lord Sumption, who resigned from the court last year, concluded that the rule of law in the territory was 'profoundly compromised' and that it was 'slowly becoming a totalitarian state'. Mr Lai's supporters, however, must not give up hope. He has recently referred to himself as a 'political prisoner' and it is through political pressure that he has the greatest hope of release. President Trump's recent promise to do 'everything I can' to help Mr Lai is a welcome one, which may carry particular weight at a time when increased US tariffs on Chinese goods hang in the balance. Sir Keir Starmer, too, raised the case in his first meeting with President Xi last year. The US and UK should intensify this pressure by every means possible. Mr Lai has taken great personal risks to defend the principles of democracy. Democrats must now stand up for him.
