Lai faces crunch on king's counsel move

The high court will hold a hearing tomorrow to discuss the Department of Justice's application to adjourn Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's collusion trial for seven days, where opposition from the defense is expected.

The application was made in a bid to buy time for the National People's Congress standing committee's interpretation on whether king's counsel Tim Owen is allowed to defend the jailed media mogul, sources said.

The judiciary confirmed last night there will be a hearing tomorrow for the three judges, Esther Toh Lye-ping, Susana Maria D'Almada Remedios and Alex Lee Wan-tang.

The trial was set to begin tomorrow, a day after Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu sought help from the NPC to rule on the involvement of overseas counsels in national security cases.

Basic Law Committee deputy director Maria Tam Wai-chu said the NPCSC has a scheduled meeting by the end of next month while additional meetings should not be needed.

When asked if the NPCSC will expand the ban on overseas lawyers or barristers handling national security-related cases, Tam said the issue should be handled by the NPCSC on where the line should be drawn.

Meanwhile, Lee defended his decision to seek Beijing's interpretation of the national security law and said the ban only targets overseas counsels who do not have a full practice in Hong Kong.

But he did not give a response on which articles of the national security law would be interpreted.

"If the central government accepts my suggestion, it would be most appropriate to handle Lai's case with an interpretation by the NPCSC," Lee said.

He also declined to comment on whether the interpretation would be unfair to Lai - founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily - who has been jailed for over a year.

Lee's position was backed by Law Society president Chan Chak-ming, who said that the interpretation would not alter the position of overseas solicitors and barristers who are already qualified to practice in Hong Kong.

However, Chan raised the concern that the move may affect the public's perception of the common law system, "particularly those who are not familiar with our judicial and legal systems."