Hong Kong judges have postponed the trial of media tycoon Jimmy Lai until he is provided with a heart monitoring device and related medication.
Friday’s decision marked the second delay to the case this week after his lawyer said he had suffered heart palpitations.
The 77-year-old founder of the Apple Daily newspaper is charged with foreign collusion under Hong Kong’s national security law, which Beijing imposed following widespread pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Closing arguments in the long-running trial were originally expected to begin on Thursday, but all court sessions were suspended due to bad weather.
As the court resumed on Friday, defence lawyer Robert Pang said that Lai had heart “palpitations” and had experienced the feeling of “collapsing”, but added that the tycoon did not want attention to be concentrated on his health.
Lai has been kept behind bars since December 2020, reportedly in solitary confinement, and concerns have previously been raised over the septuagenarian’s welfare.
‘The world is watching’
The three-judge panel adjourned the case to Monday to allow time for prison authorities to outfit Lai with a wearable heart monitor and provide medication.
The sprawling trial, which began in December 2023, is entering its final stages as Western nations and rights groups continue to call for Lai’s release.
Aside from the collusion charge – which could land him in prison for life – Lai is also charged with “seditious publication” related to 161 op-eds carrying his byline.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Thursday that “the world is watching how Hong Kong treats its journalists”.
“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,” said CPJ regional director Beh Lih Yi.
Trump comments
US President Donald Trump told a Fox News radio programme on Thursday that he had previously brought up the Lai case with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“I’m going to do everything I can to save him … you could also understand President Xi would not be exactly thrilled,” the outlet quoted Trump as saying.
The Hong Kong government said on Wednesday it “strongly disapproved and rejected the slanderous remarks made by external forces” regarding Lai’s case.
Lai is a British citizen and his son Sebastien reiterated in March calls for the Keir Starmer administration to do more, saying: “I don’t want my father to die in jail.”
Two prosecution witnesses, Chan Tsz-wah and Andy Li, also accused Lai of financially backing an advocacy group that ran overseas newspaper advertisements supporting the 2019 protests.
Lai has denied calling for sanctions against China and Hong Kong and said he never advocated separatism.
Apple Daily was forced to close in 2021 after police raids and the arrests of its senior editors.
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