Hong Kong court begins second day of activist publisher Jimmy Lai’s trial

People queue to enter the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts, where activist publisher Jimmy Lai’s trial is taking place, in Hong Kong (Louise Delmotte/AP)

The national security trial of Hong Kong’s famous activist publisher Jimmy Lai has entered its second day, with judges expected to rule by the end of the week on his lawyers’ bid to throw out a sedition charge that has been increasingly used to target dissidents.

Lai, 76, was arrested in August 2020 during a crackdown on the city’s pro-democracy movement following massive protests in 2019.