Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai's trial on hold over lawyer dispute

Apple Daily founder faces life sentence if convicted on national security charges

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Apple Daily founder and pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai leaves court in February 2021. © Reuters

PAK YIU, Nikkei staff writer

HONG KONG -- The start of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai's trial was pushed back Thursday as city officials try to force his foreign lawyer off a landmark national security case that highlighted a crackdown on press freedom.

Hong Kong's immigration department has "withheld" extending a work visa issued to Timothy Owens, a British lawyer defending the founder of pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, senior counsel Robert Pang told the court.

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