Hong Kong Court Denies Bid by Jimmy Lai, 6 Others to Overturn Convictions

Hong Kong’s top court on Monday rejected a bid to overturn the convictions of seven prominent pro-democracy activists, including media mogul Jimmy Lai, for their roles in the 2019 protests. Lai, 76, founder of the now-defunct liberal newspaper Apple Daily; Martin Lee, 86, founding chairman of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party; and five other activists were convicted in 2021 for their roles in an unlawful assembly in August 2019, when nearly 2 million people rallied on the streets. A lower court last year overturned their convictions for organizing the rally but upheld their convictions for participating in it. The defendants had argued that the trial judge should have conducted an “operational proportionality” assessment to determine whether their conviction was proportionate to human rights protections....