HONG KONG -- The marathon national security trial of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has sparked a heated exchange over whether he is a "political prisoner" and an unusual defense of the court by a presiding judge.
Lai described himself that way on Tuesday as the prosecution sifted through internal WhatsApp exchanges among executives of Apple Daily, the now-defunct pro-democracy news outlet he founded. As the 77-year-old was grilled about a lapse in his memory, he hit back, saying he was a "political prisoner" who was being treated as if he was "mentally retarded."
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