Trial Begins for Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong Catholic Activist Imprisoned for 3 Years, by Daniel Payne

By Daniel Payne, CNA, Dec. 18, 2023

Daniel Payne is a senior editor at Catholic News Agency. He previously worked at the College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.

CNA Staff, Dec 18, 2023 / 07:00 am – The trial for Jimmy Lai, the Catholic Hong Kong activist and newspaper publisher, opened Monday, launching what is expected to be a protracted legal exhibition capping several years of imprisonment for the embattled pro-democracy advocate.

Lai has been an outspoken advocate of human rights and democratic freedoms in Hong Kong for years. He founded the tabloid Apple Daily in 1995, which took a strong pro-democracy stance in the administrative region.

The activist was originally arrested in August 2020 under that year’s controversial national security law, which was passed by China’s communist-controlled government. The law sharply curtailed free speech in the region in an effort to quash what the Chinese Communist Party considered subversion and sedition in the separately administered region of Hong Kong. …