Hong Kong police are reportedly deploying 1,000 officers around the clock to guard the courtroom where the trial of Jimmy Lai began on Monday, three years after his arrest. Like the decision to hold the British citizen in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison, this is theatre. Mr Lai, a media mogul and pro-democracy activist, is 76. His allies in the 2019 movement to uphold Hong Kong’s freedoms are themselves in jail or have fled abroad. Political opposition has been ruthlessly suppressed following the protests.
Mr Lai is charged with conspiring to collude with foreign forces under 2020’s draconian National Security Law (NSL) – he is accused of calling for sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials – and with producing and distributing “seditious publications”. Beijing had long loathed his Apple Daily newspaper for its outspoken criticism; it closed in 2021. He is already serving a sentence for fraud, a charge that his supporters say was politically motivated. This new trial is nakedly political. There is little doubt how it will end. The NSL is extraordinarily broad in scope, even claiming jurisdiction over activities abroad by people who are not Hong Kong residents.
Mr Lai was denied his choice of lawyer. Instead of a jury, he faces judges appointed by the authorities. Trials under the NSL have a 100% conviction rate. But the justice secretary has stressed that anyone acquitted could simply be remanded again anyway. It is highly likely that Mr Lai may spend the rest of his life in jail.
While Beijing-backed media sought to portray him as a mastermind of the protests, the authorities have gone after many more participants. The “Hong Kong 47”, who include the activist Joshua Wong, the legislator Claudia Mo and the scholar Benny Tai, await verdicts following their mass trial. And authorities have sought to intimidate those who fled overseas by declaring £100,000 bounties on high-profile figures, announcing five more targets last week.
They are being vindictively pursued because they represent the breadth and depth of Hong Kong residents’ commitment to autonomy. The 2019 protests gave the lie to the notion that the population was conservative and apolitical. Well over a quarter of residents marched for their way of life, and almost three-fifths backed the movement. While some believed that protests got out of hand and supported the official response, tens of thousands chose to leave.
Hong Kong’s freedoms and way of life following its return to China were guaranteed until 2047 by the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a binding international treaty. Given that, and Mr Lai’s British citizenship, it is shameful that it took so long for the UK to respond appropriately. The foreign secretary, David Cameron, and the US have now condemned his trial and urged his release. Mr Cameron has rightly called for the NSL’s repeal and an end to all prosecutions under it. But such clarity might have had greater impact when Beijing began to tighten the screws.
Political interference is prompting foreign businesses to look to alternative locations. Last week, there was a record low turnout in “patriot only” district elections that barred liberals from standing. And despite the intimidating political environment, citizens queued to witness Mr Lai’s case on Monday. This is not only a trial of the businessman but of Hong Kong’s future under de facto rule from Beijing. That verdict, too, is already clear.
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