Hong Kong activist Tony Chung and ex-lawmaker Ted Hui have been granted asylum in the UK and Australia, years after facing charges linked to the 2019 anti-government protests. Both fled amid Beijing’s crackdown under the national security law that criminalised dissent.
Published On 18 Aug 202518 Aug 2025
Closing arguments are due to begin in the national security trial of Jimmy Lai, 77, a fierce critic of China’s Communist Party.
United States President Donald Trump has renewed his promise to “save” jailed Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai, who is on trial for alleged national security crimes over his pro-democracy activism and antipathy towards China’s Communist Party.
“I’m going to do everything I can to save him. I’m going to do everything … His name has already entered the circle of things that we’re talking about, and we’ll see what we can do,” Trump told Fox News Radio in the US.
Trump’s remarks came as closing arguments in Lai’s high-profile trial.
Closing arguments have been pushed from Friday to Monday after Lai’s lawyer said he had experienced heart palpitations.
The delay marks the second in as many days, after Hong Kong courts were closed due to bad weather.
Trump previously pledged to rescue Lai during an interview last October, just weeks before his election as president, and had said he would “100 percent get him out”.
Lai is one of the most prominent Hong Kongers to be charged under the city’s draconian 2020 national security law, and his cause has made international headlines.
The 77-year-old is a longtime opponent of China’s Communist Party thanks to his ownership of Apple Daily, a now-shuttered pro-democracy tabloid newspaper.
Thank you, President Trump, for your support for Jimmy Lai at this critical time.
“I’m going to do everything I can to save [Jimmy Lai]. I’m going to do everything…His name has already entered the circle of things that we’re talking about, and we’ll see what we can do. I… pic.twitter.com/EmscQHYQmX
— #FreeJimmyLai (@SupportJimmyLai) August 14, 2025
He is facing two counts of “colluding with foreign forces” and a separate charge of sedition in the long-running national security trial that began in December 2023.
If found guilty, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. He has always protested his innocence.
Lai was first arrested in 2020, just months after Beijing imposed the new national security law on Hong Kong, which criminalised the city’s pro-democracy movement and categorised public protests as acts of secession, subversion and terrorism.
The law was later expanded in 2024 to include further crimes such as espionage and sabotage.
Lai has been in detention continuously since December 2020 and is serving separate prison sentences for participating in a banned candlelight vigil and committing “fraud” on an office lease agreement.
He has spent more than 1,600 days in solitary confinement, according to the United Kingdom-based Hong Kong Watch, despite his age and health complications.
Lai was also denied the lawyer of his choice during trial and access to independent medical care.
A verdict in his trial is expected within days.
UK Foreign Secretary Lammy, Home Secretary Cooper call on China to stop targeting opposition voices living in Britain.
The United Kingdom has condemned Hong Kong authorities for offering payment in exchange for assisting in the arrest of pro-democracy activists living in Britain, even as the British government begins the process of reinstating an extradition deal with the autonomous Chinese city.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper issued a joint statement on Friday shortly after Hong Kong announced cash rewards for information leading to the arrest of 19 pro-democracy activists based abroad, including in Britain, who are accused of violating the strict national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.
In their statement, Lammy and Cooper called on China to stop targeting opposition voices in Britain.
“The Hong Kong Police Force’s issuing of further arrest warrants and bounties on individuals living in the UK is another example of transnational repression,” their statement read.
The bounties range from 200,000 to one million Hong Kong dollars (about $25,000-$125,000), depending on the individual the Hong Kong authorities seek to arrest.
This is the fourth time Hong Kong authorities have made reward offers, which have drawn strong criticism from Western countries, to which China, in turn, has denounced as “interference”.
In their statement, the two British ministers said that “this Government will continue to stand with the people of Hong Kong, including those who have made the [United Kingdom] their home. We take the protection of their rights, freedoms, and safety very seriously”.
But a recent proposal by the British government to reform extradition rules has prompted serious concerns, with some fearing it could pave the way for a resumption of extraditions to Hong Kong, which have been suspended since the 2020 national security law was enacted.
On Friday, Al Jazeera reported that the UK Home Office applied to Parliament to make changes to the country’s legislation regarding extradition on July 17, followed by a letter to Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp the next day.
“It is in our national interest to have effective extradition relationships to prevent criminals from evading justice and the UK becoming a haven for criminals,” the July 18 letter from Security Minister Dan Jarvis said.
The Home Office also plans to restore an extradition framework with Chile and Zimbabwe, according to the letter, which was shared on X by Conservative MP Alicia Kearns.
Cases for Hong Kong and Zimbabwe would both be considered on a “case-by-case basis”, Jarvis said.
About 150,000 Hong Kong nationals migrated to the UK under a special visa scheme introduced in 2021.
In 2024, legislators in Hong Kong approved a new national security law – referred to as Article 23 – that gave the government new powers to crack down on all forms of dissent on the grounds of alleged treason, espionage, sedition and external interference in Hong Kong’s internal affairs. Since then, Hong Kong has been offering bounties for the arrest of activists who have fled the city while facing charges related to the pro-democracy protests.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, is a particular sticking point for the UK due to its historical relationship and the sharp decline in political freedoms in Hong Kong since China imposed controversial national security legislation in 2020.
The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the guarantee of a high degree of autonomy, including freedom of speech, under a “one country, two systems” formula.
The United Kingdom government is moving to reinstate extradition cooperation with Hong Kong that was suspended five years ago due to concerns about the city’s Chinese national security laws.
The Home Office applied to Parliament to make the changes on July 17, followed by a letter to Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp the next day.
“It is in our national interest to have effective extradition relationships to prevent criminals from evading justice and the UK becoming a haven for criminals,” the July 18 letter from Security Minister Dan Jarvis said.
The Home Office also plans to restore an extradition framework with Chile and Zimbabwe, according to the letter, which was shared on X by Conservative MP Alicia Kearns.
Cases for Hong Kong and Zimbabwe would both be considered on a “case-by-case basis,” Jarvis said.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, is a particular sticking point for the UK due to their historical relationship and the sharp decline in political freedoms in Hong Kong since China imposed controversial national security legislation in 2020.
In 2024, legislators in Hong Kong approved a new national security law - referred to as Article 23 – that gave the government new powers to crack down on all forms of dissent on the grounds of alleged treason, espionage, sedition and external interference in Hong Kong’s internal affairs.
At the time, Hong Kong’s government said Article 23 was needed to prevent a recurrence of the protests of 2019, and that its provisions would only affect “an extremely small minority” of disloyal residents.
The UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany and the United States all suspended their extradition agreements in 2020 with the Chinese city due to concerns about how the laws would be used.
“In my view, reinstating extradition with Hong Kong is morally indefensible. The Chinese Communist Party has turned Hong Kong into a surveillance state where freedom of expression, rule of law, and basic civil liberties are systematically dismantled,” Kearns wrote on X.
“This move risks legitimizing a regime that imprisons critics, silences democracy activists, and uses extradition as a tool of persecution,” she said.
Here is the letter from the Home Office.
In my view, reinstating extradition with Hong Kong is morally indefensible.
The Chinese Communist Party has turned Hong Kong into a surveillance state where freedom of expression, rule of law, and basic civil liberties are… pic.twitter.com/6gb923QXKb
— Alicia Kearns MP (@aliciakearns) July 24, 2025
Ronny Tong, a Hong Kong barrister and member of the city’s executive council, told Al Jazeera that concerns about a potential extradition deal were overblown.
“Extradition is in relation to non-political criminal cases, so any fear that it’d be used to transfer persons with political crimes, eg, national security cases, is totally unfounded and only shows ignorance of the procedure,” he said. “Furthermore, it is up to judges of the transferring state to ensure the procedure will not be abused.”
He said the city was “more than ready to restart the arrangement, as we have full confidence our judges are totally independent and of highest integrity”.
Hong Kong’s 2020 national security law criminalised secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference, and was supplemented in 2024 to include treason, sedition, theft of state secrets, espionage, sabotage, and external interference.
Hong Kong’s government has said the laws are necessary to protect the city from political sabotage and foreign influence, following months of pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019.
Security Minister Chris Tang said in June that 326 people have been arrested under Hong Kong’s national security laws since 2020.
The government has also used international bounties to expand its reach to Hong Kong activists abroad, or cancelled their passports while they were overseas.
The moves have been seen as largely symbolic, but also chilling for a city that was once considered the freest place in Asia.
On Friday, Hong Kong issued a new list of bounties for 19 activists involved with a pro-Hong Kong democracy NGO in Canada.
Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 as a “special administrative region” and was promised special rights and freedoms until 2047, under the Sino-British Joint Declaration.