Hong Kong’s top court reserves ruling until Monday on allowing prominent UK lawyer to defend jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai in national security case
- Justice department had taken case to higher courts in rarely seen all-out effort to block an overseas lawyer from joining local trial
- Lai, 74, will next week be tried with two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and a similar charge of collusion, on top of a sedition charge
Hong Kong’s top court has reserved judgment until Monday on whether a prominent British barrister can defend jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, whose national security trial is set to begin later next week.
The Department of Justice, which has lost twice before in its objection against Lai’s retention of London-based King’s Counsel Timothy Owen, told the Court of Final Appeal there should be a blanket ban on overseas lawyers taking part in national security cases unless under exceptional conditions.
Lai, 74, is set to stand trial before a panel of three High Court judges next Thursday on two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and a similar charge of collusion under the Beijing-decreed security law.
The founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper also faces a charge under the colonial-era sedition law.
The media tycoon’s lawyers hired Owen in early August per Lai’s wish for a senior barrister from abroad to lead his defence. Owen was present at the hearing on Friday, but he did not address the court during the proceedings.
The high-profile case has also sparked a debate over the suitability of overseas lawyers taking up legal work involving matters of national security.
Lawyers for Lai argued that Owen was qualified to represent the publishing mogul as the “one country, two systems” governing principle allowed for overseas lawyers to contribute to cases.
Hong Kong court upholds move for top UK lawyer to join Jimmy Lai’s defence team
Senior Counsel Robert Pang Yiu-hung, who represents Lai in the case, also cited the barrister’s experience in interpreting the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a United Nations agreement that commits signatories such as Hong Kong to respect the civil and political rights of individuals.
The ICCPR provisions are among the legislation referred to in Article 4 of the Beijing-imposed national security law, which calls for the protection of residents’ stipulated rights and freedoms.
“At this crossroads between the needs of national security and freedom of expression, the court should get all the help it can get,” Pang said.
Senior Counsel Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung, who was among those representing the Department of Justice, argued that the unique nature of the national security law required lawyers to be familiar with the legal systems of both Hong Kong and mainland China.
01:45
Former Apple Daily staff plead guilty to conspiracy under Hong Kong national security law
The legislation, which was imposed by Beijing in June 2020 aims to prevent, stop and punish secession, subversion of state power, terrorism and foreign interference.
In response to the department’s call for excluding overseas lawyers, Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung questioned whether the government was bringing forward a new argument, noting it had not featured in the previous rulings.
Also citing the department’s stance, Lai’s lawyers said the city’s top court should dismiss the application for an appeal because the government had raised a new legal argument rather than seeking to find errors in the previous rulings.
Ex-leader CY Leung: British lawyer should not defend Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong court
In October, Chief Judge of the High Court Jeremy Poon Shiu-chor approved Owen’s participation in light of “clear” public interest, sweeping aside objections by the department and the Bar Association.
The department later took its grievance to the Court of Appeal and later the Court of Final Appeal, engaging three different sets of senior counsel in a rare, all-out effort to block an overseas lawyer from taking a case in the city.
The move has also triggered complaints from Lai’s legal team, who argued their preparations for the trial on Thursday were being impeded by the department’s appeals.
Media tycoon Jimmy Lai asks Hong Kong court to pull plug on collusion case
Earlier this month, three Court of Appeal jurists upheld the chief judge’s ruling by highlighting the contribution overseas counsel could make in developing local jurisprudence, and the need to take public perception of fairness into account.
Meanwhile, the Bar Association, which is often seen on the opposing side in similar applications to protect the interests of local barristers, did not lodge an appeal, but stated it shared the department’s views on the issues in contention.
