On Aug. 12, Hong Kong’s top court rejected a bid to reverse convictions on publisher Jimmy Lai and six other pro-democracy activists for their activism during the 2019 anti-government protests.
The appellants had their conviction for organizing “an unauthorized assembly” overturned but were still found guilty of participating in it. Citing two British legal precedents, their appeal was focused on arguing that this judgment was too harsh given their fundamental rights, the Guardian wrote.
The decision was made after two British judges from Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal (CFA), Lawrence Collins and Jonathan Sumption, resigned. They claimed that the city’s rule of law was “profoundly compromised” as it was becoming a totalitarian state.
Since December 2020, Lai — founder of the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily — had been placed in solitary confinement for over three years. Along with six others, he was found guilty for staging the protest in August 2019, leading to more in communist-ruled Hong Kong for the next few months.
The communist government launched a national security law in 2020 to quell the protests, followed by another known as Article 23 in March.
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Lai and three other lawmakers — Lee Cheuk-yan, “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung and Cyd Ho — were sentenced to eight to 18 months in prison. Martin Lee, founding chairman of Hong Kong’s Democratic party, and two ex-legislators Albert Ho and Margaret Ng, were given suspended jail sentences.
Now, Lai is facing a different national security trial after being handed a sentence of five years and nine months following a supposed violation of a lease contract for his Apple Daily’s headquarters.
In July, that trial was delayed for another four months, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported. Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai, had called for the British government to intervene, with rights groups calling the trial a “sham.”
“My father is 76… [and] at a time when most people get to enjoy their retirement and spend time with family, is in solitary confinement in a Hong Kong prison,” Sebastien Lai said in a July 25 statement.
“After repeated adjournments and long delays, my father’s show trial under the National Security law finally began in December 2023,” he added. “Now we learn of a four month delay within the trial itself, so this unfair process drags on even longer.”
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A British hand in verdict
One of the five judges of the CFA who heard Jimmy Lai’s case was David Neuberger, formerly a head of the UK’s supreme court. After Lai’s appeal was dropped, Neuberger had resigned “as chair of a legal advisory board to an international media freedom group” following concerns over his position in the CFA.
“I have now concluded that I should go now, because it is undesirable that focus on my position as a non-permanent Judge in Hong Kong should take away, or distract, from the critical and impactful work for the High Level Panel,” Neuberger said.
His role in the ruling had drawn criticism from activists and Hong Kong’s last British governor, Chris Patten. British media outlet The Independent also condemned Neuberger in two of its articles. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also shared its disappointment on the ruling, calling “Lord Neuberger’s” participation “impossible to reconcile.”
Speaking to Reuters, Neuberger said in June that he would remain on the CFA “to support the rule of the law in Hong Kong, as best I can.”
