Hong Kong Threat to Move Jimmy Lai Case to China Revives Fears
- China lawmaker floats transfer if defendants can’t find lawyer
- Government seeks to bar foreign counsels from security cases
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A legal battle over Hong Kong’s effort to prosecute media tycoon Jimmy Lai on national security charges has made the once-unthinkable an imminent threat: moving sensitive cases to mainland Chinese courts.
While Beijing has asserted the right to take over “complex” cases involving foreign nations since imposing a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, it has so far not exercised the power. Instead, dozens of security cases are being prosecuted in local courts in the former British colony, where judges still wear wigs and observe English common law.