Jimmy Lai’s security trial opens in Hong Kong, UK urges immediate release
Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has gone on trial for alleged national security offences, hours after the United Kingdom joined calls for his immediate release.
Lai, who has been imprisoned since December 2020, arrived in court at 10am (02:00 GMT) where he is charged with conspiring to collude with foreign powers under the national security law imposed on the territory by China in June 2020.
Journalists inside the court said the 76-year-old, who was dressed in a blue shirt and carrying a book, looked like he had lost weight, but appeared in good spirits.
The publisher of the now-defunct Apple Daily is one of China’s most vocal critics and was arrested initially in August 2020 as police raided the newspaper’s officers.
The trial was supposed to have started a year ago but was delayed after the government challenged his choice of defence counsel, Timothy Owen, a UK-based lawyer, and sought Beijing’s intervention.
Lai and the Apple Daily also face charges under a sedition law dating from the British colonial era.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington joins us live from Hong Kong, outside West Kowloon court, for the latest updates.
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