Hong Kong national security law: appeal court upholds move to allow top UK lawyer to join Jimmy Lai’s defence team in light of ‘clear’ public interest

An appellate court in Hong Kong has upheld a ruling to allow a prominent British barrister to defend tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying at his collusion trial under the national security law, sweeping aside a bid against the move by the justice department.

The Court of Appeal’s ruling on Wednesday followed a decision by High Court Chief Justice Jeremy Poon Shiu-chor last month to allow King’s Counsel Tim Owen, from London, to join Lai’s legal team in light of “clear” public interest.

Owen’s participation was opposed by the Department of Justice and the Bar Association, but the latter did not lodge an appeal against the chief judge’s ruling.

The department contended that overseas counsel could not furnish judges with new perspectives on the national security law, imposed by Beijing in June 2020, as they lacked a full understanding of the city’s unique sociopolitical and constitutional context.

The appeal court, however, dismissed the argument, and highlighted its logical conclusion would be a general ban on the use of barristers from abroad in national security cases.

“The forthcoming criminal trial is a high profile case attracting substantial publicity locally and abroad. It involves the resolution of legal issues of great general public importance that would impact substantially on the development of [national security law] jurisprudence and sedition offences,” Wednesday’s judgment, which did not identify the author, said.

“Public perception of fairness in the trial is of vital importance to the administration of justice. The court must adopt a flexible and sensible approach to arrive at a decision that would best suit the public interest in this application.”

Lai, 74, will stand trial before a three-judge panel in the Court of First Instance next month on charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and conspiracy to publish seditious material.