Jimmy Lai’s security trial starts in Hong Kong, UK calls for his release

The media tycoon and democracy supporter, now 76, has been in jail for three years, accused of ‘collusion with foreign forces’.

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has gone on trial for alleged national security offences, hours after the United Kingdom joined calls for his immediate release.

Lai, who has been imprisoned since December 2020, arrived in court at 10am (02:00 GMT) where he is charged with conspiring to collude with foreign powers under the national security law imposed on the territory by China in June 2020.

Journalists inside the court said the 76-year-old, who was dressed in a blue shirt and carrying a book, looked like he had lost weight, but appeared in good spirits.

The publisher of the now-defunct Apple Daily is one of China’s most vocal critics and was arrested initially in August 2020 as police raided the newspaper’s officers.

The trial was supposed to have started a year ago, but was delayed after the government raised questions about his choice of defence counsel, Timothy Owen, a UK-based lawyer, and sought Beijing’s intervention.