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| Lai had hired King's Counsel Tim Owen to defend him |
After Hong Kong's highest court allowed Apple Daily founder and publisher Jimmy Lai Chee-ying to have British national Tim Owen to represent him in a national security trial, the government asked Beijing for an interpretation of the law on this.
What was the verdict?
Hong Kong's chief executive, specifically John Lee Ka-chiu can decide on this matter once and for all -- and that the decision could not be appealed in court.
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| HK's high court had allowed Owen in NSL case |
"Hong Kong is to be governed by a decision-making body that works secretively and whose decisions are not to be challenged in court. The repercussions on Hong Kong's rule of law are clearly far-reaching," said Ling Bing, a Chinese law specialist at the University of Sydney.
Michael Davis, formerly of the law school at the University of Hong Kong, said he viewed the interpretation as creating further avenues for the local government to "dictate outcomes on critical issues before the court".
"The court will now face the prospect of a committee overruling it if it does not rule in favour of the prosecution when national security is raised," he said.
"That will surely weigh heavily on every decision where national security issues are raised by the government."
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| Lee will now decide on Lai's legal representation |
However, Professor Albert Chen Hung-yee, a constitutional law expert at HKU, said the interpretation didn't give the chief executive more power, but that the city's leader and the oversight committee already had this authority.
In any case, it does not bode well for Lai and the cause for democracy in Hong Kong.
The goal posts are constantly shifting, and for the benefit of the pro-establishment.
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