The enactment of a national security law in Hong Kong prompted activists to discuss the prospect of setting up a “government-in-exile” to continue lobbying international allies against the city, the trial of media mogul Jimmy Lai has heard.
Prosecution witness Andy Li, a programmer turned activist, told the court on Tuesday that the idea of establishing a de-facto government overseas came up in discussion with Chan Tsz-wah in July 2020, soon after the Beijing-imposed security law came into force.
Both Li and Chan have pleaded guilty to conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the security law and have agreed to testify against Lai. Prosecutors have alleged that Chan was the middleman who passed Lai’s instructions on to Li to call for international sanctions and other “hostile acts” against China and the city.
Lai, who founded popular pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiring to publish “seditious” materials under colonial-era legislation. The 76-year-old has been detained since December 2020 and could spend the rest of his life behind bars if he is convicted under the security law.
Alex Lee, a designated national security judge and one of the three judges presiding over Lai’s trial, asked why Li would consider setting up such an organisation abroad after the promulgation of the security law.
“Because if I didn’t stand up, Hong Kong would still be run by a regime controlled by the Chinese Communist Party,” Li responded in Cantonese, adding that “political persecutions” had already started to happen in the city.
Li also said he and Chan had talked about leaving the city around the time the security law was passed.
“Presumably you were anticipating the prospect of you being arrested for contravening national security law offences,” judge Lee said.
“It should be said that I anticipated the regime would go after me regardless of the offence. They would arrest me with whatever disposals they have,” Li responded.
‘Front person’
Continuing his testimony on Tuesday, the 56th day of the trial, Li said an overseas political organisation required a “front person,” otherwise the international community would not “take it seriously.”
Li said he and Chan had considered prominent pro-democracy activists, such as ex-lawmaker Baggio Leung and Ray Wong, both of whom are in self-exile and are wanted by national security police.
The front person would also “provide impetus” to the pro-democracy movement that began in 2019, Li said, but ultimately he and Chan found no appropriate candidate for the role.
Messaging records between the duo showed that Li asked Chan whether there was a need to remove Chan from the chat group for members of “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong” (SWHK), which prosecutors alleged was the platform for the conspiracy.
Li told Chan that some members were worried after Lai was arrested on national security allegations, and had advised the duo to consider leaving the city.
“As a leader, I have to be the last one standing… If I leave, who will lead the teams?” Chan texted Li in the morning of August 10, 2020, when Lai was arrested under the national security law. The court heard that Li was also arrested later that day.
Sanctions
Separately, lead prosecutor Anthony Chau referred to a press release issued that August by the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Hong Kong (APPG), an informal body of UK legislators, which accused Hong Kong authorities of tolerating abuses of humanitarian aid workers during the 2019 protests and unrest.
Chau said the press release noted that Whitehouse Consultancy, a UK-based political communications firm, had assisted the APPG with funding from SWHK. The court previously heard that UK-based Hong Kong activists had enlisted Whitehouse Consultancy to help with advocacy campaigns.
The prosecutor added that, in a subsequent press release, SWHK said it “fully [supports] the APPG’s call for Magnitsky-style sanctions against those responsible for the excessive police violence.”
Chau also pointed to messaging records between Li and British activist Luke de Pulford in July 2020, when authorities announced the postponement of that year’s Legislative Council election citing Covid-19 pandemic.
Li said he prepared the list of election candidates that were disqualified by authorities for de Pulford, who drafted a statement to be co-signed by British politicians in response to the news.
That statement also called for the UK government to impose sanctions on the city’s then-leader Carrie Lam, according to a screenshot displayed in court.
The trial continues on Wednesday, when the defence is expected to begin its cross-examination of Li.
When Lai’s trial began on December 18 he had already spent more than 1,000 days in custody after having had his bail revoked in December 2020.
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