Publisher Jimmy Lai will testify in his defense at Hong Kong national security trial, lawyer says

HONG KONG (AP) — A defense lawyer said Thursday that prominent publisher Jimmy Lai will testify in his defense in the landmark national security trial brought under a Beijing-imposed law that has all but wiped out public dissent.

Lai, the 76-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, was arrested in 2020 during a crackdown on the mass pro-democracy protests that rocked Hong Kong in 2019. He was charged with colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiring with others to put out seditious publications. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.

On Wednesday, Lai’s lawyer Robert Pang argued his client had no case to answer because the prosecutors’ evidence was insufficient. Pang said the prosecution had failed to prove Lai’s intent after the introduction of the 2020 law and stressed the importance of freedom of speech.

But judges Esther Toh, Susana D’Almada Remedios and Alex Lee, who were approved by the government to oversee the case, ruled against him on Thursday.

“Having considered all the submission, we ruled that the first defendant has a case to answer on all charges,” Toh said, without elaborating.

Lai appeared to be at ease after the ruling.

Pang said in court that Lai would testify in his defense. The case has been adjourned to Nov. 20.

Observers said Lai’s high-profile case, which has already stretched over 90 days, is a trial of press freedom and a test for judicial independence in the Asian financial hub.

When Britain handed back Hong Kong to China in 1997, the city was promised to have its Western-style civil liberties kept intact for 50 years. However, the freedoms that once set Hong Kong apart from mainland China, including freedoms of press and assembly, have