3 days ago
Final stage of Jimmy Lai's landmark national security trial to begin
Update:
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.
