Closing arguments in Jimmy Lai security case delayed over health concerns

Updated Aug. 15 at 9:22 a.m.

Closing arguments in the trial of Jimmy Lai, the founder of Hong Kong’s now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, were postponed on Friday over concerns for Lai’s health. It was the second time the proceedings were postponed this week.

The court session originally scheduled for Thursday was delayed due to heavy rain. As court resumed Friday, defense attorney Robert Pang said that Lai was experiencing heart “palpitations” and felt like he was “collapsing.” Lawyers asked that Lai be excused from coming to court.

A judge in the case, Alex Lee, said it would be “prudent” to begin proceedings on Monday. Another judge, Esther Toh, said medical staff arranged by the court had detected “no abnormality” with Lai’s heart.

The founder of Hong Kong’s now shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, the 77-year-old Lai is accused of “collusion with foreign forces” and “seditious publication” under Hong Kong’s restrictive National Security Law, which was imposed by Beijing in 2020. Lai has denied the charges.

In February, Lai’s son Sebastien warned that “time is running out” for his father’s health, and called on Britain and the United States to push for his release. Lai has been in prison since 2020, spending much of that time in solitary confinement, his son said. The elder Lai is a British citizen.

On Wednesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists cited Lai’s health in calling on Hong Kong officials to free him.

“The prolonged detention of Jimmy Lai not only destroys Hong Kong’s historic reputation as a free and open society, but also as a trusted hub for business,” Beh Lih Yi, a regional director of CPJ, said in a statement. “The risk of him dying in prison increases as each day passes.”

Includes reporting from Agence France-Presse.