Jimmy Lai secured a critical victory in his ongoing legal battle with the Hong Kong authorities this week, winning the right to be represented by a lawyer from the U.K. But now, Hong Kong chief executive John Lee is appealing directly to China’s National People’s Congress to block Lai’s choice of counsel.
The whole situation demonstrates just how much of a charade any judicial proceeding is in Hong Kong in the wake of the 2020 National Security Law. Beijing’s opponents may, for the time being, be capable of winning tactical court skirmishes, but Hong Kong officials will then seek to involve the Chinese Communist Party directly.
Or, as Mark Clifford, the former editor of the South China Morning Post who now runs the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, put it in a statement this week:
After three consecutive Hong Kong court decisions affirming Jimmy Lai’s right to choose his own counsel, John Lee is now asking his masters in Beijing to disregard the high court. His attempt to deny choice of counsel is unprecedented, and should remove any doubt that the rule of law in Hong Kong is dead.