According to Reuters, Lai's defense lawyer Robert Pang sought dismissal of the charge due to the prosecution failing to charge Lai within 6 months of the alleged offense. They charged Lai 4 days after the deadline on December 28, 2021.
The judges overseeing the trial, however, declared that the time restriction was not applicable since Lai's alleged crime was "a continuing offense and therefore the time limitation did not start to run until after the last date of the alleged conspiracy."
"The court ruled that the prosecution of the sedition charge against the defendants was not time-barred," their judgment stated. "Therefore, the Court had jurisdiction to try the defendants on the sedition charge."
The prosecution has alleged that Apple Daily, under the direction of Lai, published 161 seditious articles between April 1, 2019 and June 24, 2021, when authorities raided the paper's office, froze assets, and arrested former employees.
Additionally, Lai has been charged with conspiracy to collude with foreign forces after he called for sanctions against Hong Kong and Chinese officials. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Lai faces life in prison should he be convicted. The US and UK have called for his immediate release and have condemned Hong Kong's actions, while also rolling back freedoms they had granted the city.
In 2019, Hong Kong erupted in protests calling for more democracy. Many protesters and activists, including Lai, were subsequently arrested in 2020 after the national security law, dubbed by critics as "the end of Hong Kong," took effect.
Chinese officials, on the other hand, praised the law as "the major turning point in Hong Kong’s transition from chaos to order."
Once in the top 80s out of 180 countries ranked for freedom of press, Hong Kong now sits at 140 out of 180.
