Hong Kong court rejects bid by tycoon Jimmy Lai to make final appeal to block police examination of his iPhones in connection with national security trial
- Court of Appeal says items ‘agreed to be journalistic material were already accessed’ after earlier judgment, so dispute had ‘ceased to exist’
- Lai can still take grievance to Court of Final Appeal on grounds that grave and substantial injustice was done to him at pre-trial proceedings
Lai’s legal team asked the Court of Appeal to allow a last-ditch argument to quash earlier permission from a judge for a search of Lai’s two iPhones, which were said to contain privileged material.
The three judges that heard the request ruled that Lai’s lawyers had failed to justify the new contentions they raised in their latest appeal, which had not been examined factually nor canvassed in argument by the lower court.
The bench highlighted the application had become academic as investigators from the police’s national security department had already examined the digital content at the heart of the dispute after Lai lost a legal challenge last year.
“Furthermore, items which were agreed to be journalistic material were already accessed after the judgment. In short, the underlying dispute of the intended appeals has ceased to exist,” the court said.
The Court of Appeal was presided over by Chief Judge of the High Court Jeremy Poon Shiu-chor and Madam Justices Susan Kwan Shuk-hing and Carlye Chu Fun-ling. Monday’s judgment did not identify an author.