Hong Kong’s top court has upheld the conviction of 76-year-old media tycoon Jimmy Lai and six other pro-democracy advocates for staging an unauthorized assembly during the 2019 protests. Despite previous overturns, the final verdict remains firm, emphasizing the local legal principles over international precedents. Lai has been in solitary confinement for over three years and faces further trials under Beijing’s national security laws.
Tags: #HongKong #JimmyLai #ProDemocracy #HumanRights #RuleOfLaw
Newsdesk (13/08/2023 11:00, Gaudium Press) Hong Kong’s top court has rejected an appeal by Jimmy Lai, the former publisher of Apple Daily, and a further six pro-democracy advocates for a conviction of staging an unauthorized assembly amid street protests in 2019.
A lower court had earlier overturned the conviction but a bench of five judges sitting on the Court of Final Appeal upheld the initial verdict, dismissing defense arguments that called into question whether the conviction was proportionate to fundamental human rights protections.
Lai, 76, and three former lawmakers Lee Cheuk-yan, 67, Leung Kwok-hung, 68 also known as “Long Hair” and Cyd Ho, 70, were jailed for between eight and 18 months. Pro-democracy veterans Martin Lee, 86, Margaret Ng, 76, and Albert Ho, 72 were given suspended sentences.
The defense argument was based on a principle laid out by two non-binding decisions of Britain’s Supreme Court known as “operational proportionality.”
Chief Justice Andrew Cheung and Permanent Judge Roberto Ribeiro held that the decisions should not be followed in Hong Kong.
“Their Lordships noted that those decisions were made in contexts which do not arise in Hong Kong and incorporate features of no local relevance,” a summary of the judgment read.
It added: “The defendants’ proposition is unsustainable. It is contrary to all established principles governing constitutional challenges in Hong Kong and especially contrary to accepted principles for assessing proportionality.”
Lai has been held in solitary confinement for more than three years and is serving a five-year and nine months sentence for convictions related to a leasing contract tied to his former newspaper’s headquarters, which closed in mid-2021 after police raids.
He is also facing an additional trial under Beijing’s imposed national security laws.
Two months ago, two British judges Lawrence Collins and Jonathan Sumption resigned from the Court of Final Appeal. Sumption said the former British colony was becoming a totalitarian state and its rule of law had been “profoundly compromised.”
Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom of Hong Kong recently told EWTN News Nightly that Lai, who converted to Catholicism in 1997, cannot get a fair trial in Hong Kong, the Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported.
Human rights groups have also criticized the crackdown on opposition lawmakers and the press under Beijing’s national security law and similar legislation enacted by Hong Kong in mid-March, known as Article 23.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from UCAN News
