20 December 2022
A Nail in the Coffin of Hong Kong’s Rule of Law
Media tycoon and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai has been the continued target of prosecution by the Hong Kong government. In a recent judgment, he has been convicted of fraud and handed a prison sentence of almost six years. As a result, another worrying development in a National Security Law (NSL) case against Lai, in which he is accused of inter alia conspiring to ‘collude with a foreign country or external elements’, has received significantly less attention. This concerns a 13 December ruling by the High Court of Hong Kong to adjourn the NSL trial until September 2023, in order for the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC) to give an interpretation on whether foreign barristers are allowed to represent clients in NSL cases. In this blog post, I will use the NSL case against Jimmy Lai to examine some of the consequences of the NSL for the rule of law and the rights of defendants in Hong Kong. Continue reading >>
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