Jimmy Lai: Hong Kong pro-democracy tycoon’s national security trial adjourned over health issues

Today’s court case has now been adjourned until Monday, due to concerns over the 77-year-old Lai’s health.

Lai’s family and legal team have over the past few years consistently raised concerns about his health, pointing to recent court appearances where he looked visibly thinner.

Lai has been held in detention since December 2020 and is already serving prison sentences for a range of other offences for his alleged role in pro-democracy protests in 2019.

His international legal team said his living conditions “pose a grave risk to his physical and mental health”. His life may even be at risk, they warned, pointing to his age and diabetes.

But the Hong Kong government has accused Lai’s lawyers of “unreasonably smearing” the prison conditions of the tycoon.

And the Hong Kong lawyers representing Lai said he was receiving “appropriate medical attention” to his health, including for his diabetes.

“He has access to daylight through the windows in the corridor outside his cell, albeit he cannot see the sky. He exercises for an hour every day in a secure area,” said the Robertsons law firm last September.

The picture below, taken in 2023, is the last time Jimmy Lai was pictured – seen here wearing shorts and sandals and accompanied by two guards in Hong Kong’s Stanley Prison.