Hong Kong court rejects activist Jimmy Lai's bid to have a jury trial for libel case

HONG KONG — A Hong Kong court rejected jailed publisher Jimmy Lai ’s request to have a jury trial for his libel case against a pro-Beijing newspaper Thursday, the latest setback for the activist who suffered multiple blows in other legal battles.

Lai, the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, is one of the city's leading activists who was prosecuted under a sweeping national security law during Beijing's crackdown on dissent. He has been the subject of criticism by pro-Beijing media outlets for years.

The 76-year-old brought the case against Ta Kung Pao in 2020, alleging that the publication had maliciously suggested he was planning to illegally abscond from the city and would breach his bail condition.

On Thursday, judge Queeny Au Yeung ruled against Lai's bid, saying the case requires a prolonged examination of documents.

“(It) is not suitable for jury trial and plainly not suitable for putting only one or some questions to the jury, leaving the rest to the trial judge,” she wrote in her judgement.

The libel case centered on an article published by Ta Kung Pao headlined “Leaders who create chaos in Hong Kong plotting escape, escape route exposed, charge one million dollars" on June 25, 2020. The article named Lai as a potential suspect who intended to abscond and evade criminal liability.

The paper denied the libel charge.

Many of Hong Kong's most prominent activists were arrested, forced into self-exile or silenced since the 2020 security law came into force. Lai's Apple Daily was shut down after the arrests of its top management in 2021. The closure was widely seen as an erosion of freedoms that were promised when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Lai has suffered setbacks in his landmark security trial. Last December, judges rejected his bid to throw out a sedition charge against him. The court last year also refused to overturn Hong Kong national security authorities' decision to block him from hiring veteran British lawyer Timothy Owen. Lai will testify in court in his defense for that security trial next month.

Lai is now serving a jail term of over five years after being convicted in a separate fraud case. He has been in custody since December 2020.

The U.S. and U.K. governments have called for Lai's release and have criticised the security law, which the Beijing and Hong Kong governments say is necessary for the city's stability.