Hong Kong’s High Court yesterday began hearing on the mitigation plea of pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英), the final step before sentencing in a landmark national security trial that has drawn international condemnation and could see Lai jailed for life.
Last month, Lai, 78, was found guilty of being the “mastermind” on two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under a China-imposed National Security Law, and conspiracy to publish seditious material.
Lai has denied all charges.
Photo: Reuters
The verdict was criticized by Britain, the EU, the US and others. Hong Kong authorities say Lai received a fair trial and the National Security Law has restored stability to the territory.
Hearings such as Monday’s give defence lawyers the chance ?to seek a more lenient jail term than the 10 years to life imprisonment Lai could face for his convictions, set out by guidelines in the security law.
Lai sat in the glass dock with eight trial defendants, including two key prosecution witnessess, Andy Li (李宇軒) and Wayland Chan Tsz-wah, separated by half-a-dozen prison guards.
Prosecutor Anthony Chau (周天行) dismissed recent concerns that Lau’s health had deteriorated in prison, citing a medical report on Friday that called his condition “stable”.
“After examination, no obvious abnormality was found,” Chau added, referring to heart palpitations Lai’s lawyers had flagged in August last year.
A longstanding critic of the Chinese Communist Party and founder of the now shuttered Apple Daily, Lai is the highest-profile figure to face prosecution under a years-long national security crackdown in the China-ruled territory following mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Nearly 100 people had lined up overnight outside the court building ahead of the hearing, some lining up three days in advance, equipped with sleeping bags, blankets and cardboard sheets for makeshift beds.
“Many people still support Mr Lai,” said Lee Ying-chi, who said she had lined up for several days. “We hope that he can be immediately released. He hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
Cambodia’s government on Wednesday said that it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon who has been accused of running a huge online scam operation. The Cambodian Ministry of the Interior said that Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi (陳志) and two other Chinese citizens were arrested and extradited on Tuesday at the request of Chinese authorities. Chen formerly had dual nationality, but his Cambodian citizenship was revoked last month, the ministry said. US prosecutors in October last year brought conspiracy charges against Chen, alleging that he had been the mastermind behind a multinational cyberfraud network, used his other businesses to launder
RSS