HONG KONG: Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai will take the witness stand for the first time in November in a high-profile national security trial where he is accused of sedition and colluding with foreign forces, a court said Thursday.
The charges against Lai — founder of the now-shuttered popular Chinese-language tabloid Apple Daily — revolve around the newspaper’s publications, which supported the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019 and criticized Beijing’s leadership.
Besides sedition, the 76-year-old is also accused of two counts of colluding with foreign forces — which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment — by calling for international sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials.
Lai, who pleaded not guilty to the charges in a trial that started in January, “elects to give evidence in this case,” said his lawyer Robert Pang.
His testimony will start on November 20 and could run for weeks, said Esther Toh, one of the three senior judges handpicked by the Hong Kong government to try security cases.
Lai has been in custody for more than 1,300 days.
Following massive pro-democracy protests in 2019, Beijing imposed a sweeping security law to quell dissent.
The prosecution has so far called eight witnesses and played over 40 hours of Lai’s talk shows and video interviews since January to mount a case against him and eight others.
Dozens of Hong Kong and foreign politicians and scholars — including former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — were named as his foreign contacts and “agents.”
But Lai’s lawyer argued Wednesday that the prosecution failed to prove he had continued to call for sanctions after Beijing criminalized such advocacy with the security law.
Judges on Thursday ruled against Lai’s defense team, calling on him to answer to all charges.
The other defendants in the case are six former executives of the newspaper and two activists, as well as three Apple Daily companies that have been taken over by the Hong Kong government.
Media tycoon Jimmy Lai to testify in Hong Kong security trial
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Media tycoon Jimmy Lai to testify in Hong Kong security trial
- The charges against Lai, founder of the now-shuttered Chinese-language tabloid Apple Daily, revolve around the newspaper’s publications
Brazil’s Lula urges Trump to treat all countries equally
NEW DELHI: Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged Donald Trump on Sunday to treat all countries equally after the US leader imposed a 15 percent tariff on imports following an adverse Supreme Court ruling.
“I want to tell the US President Donald Trump that we don’t want a new Cold War. We don’t want interference in any other country, we want all countries to be treated equally,” Lula told reporters in New Delhi.
The conservative-majority Supreme Court ruled six to three on Friday that a 1977 law Trump has relied on to slap sudden levies on individual countries, upending global trade, “does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”
Lula said he would not like to react to the Supreme Court decisions of another country, but hoped that Brazil’s relations with the United States “will go back to normalcy” soon.
The veteran leftist leader is expected to travel to Washington next month for a meeting with Trump.
“I am convinced that Brazil-US relation will go back to normalcy after our conversation,” Lula, 80, said, adding that Brazil only wanted to “live in peace, generate jobs, and improve the lives of our people.”
Lula and Trump, 79, stand on polar opposite sides when it comes to issues such as multilateralism, international trade and the fight against climate change.
However, ties between Brazil and the United States appear to be on the mend after months of animosity between Washington and Brasilia.
As a result, Trump’s administration has exempted key Brazilian exports from 40 percent tariffs that had been imposed on the South American country last year.
‘Affinity’
“The world doesn’t need more turbulence, it needs peace,” said Lula, who arrived in India on Wednesday for a summit on artificial intelligence and a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ties between Washington and Brasilia soured in recent months, with Trump angered over the trial and conviction of his ally, the far-right former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro.
Trump imposed sanctions against several top officials, including a Supreme Court judge, to punish Brazil for what he termed a “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison for his role in a botched coup bid after his 2022 election loss to Lula.
Lula said that, as the two largest democracies in the Americas, he looked forward to a positive relationship with the United States.
“We are two men of 80 years of age, so we cannot play around with democracy,” he said.
“We have to take this very seriously. We have to shake hands eye-to-eye, person-to-person, and to discuss what is best for the US and Brazil.”
Lula also praised Modi after India and Brazil agreed to boost cooperation on critical minerals and rare earths and signed a raft of other deals on Saturday.
“I have a lot of affinity with Prime Minister Modi,” he said.
Lula will travel to South Korea later on Sunday for meetings with President Lee Jae Myung and to attend a business forum.
