China Lets Hong Kong Leader Override Courts Over Jimmy Lai Lawyer

The decision Friday by the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress gives Mr. Lee or the national security committee he heads the final word on such decisions.

Legal experts have closely watched the process as an indicator of judicial independence in the city after China imposed a tough national security law to quell a year of fierce protests.

The decision “devastates the remaining degree of rule of law and judicial independence of Hong Kong,” as it opens the door for local authorities to override the courts when they consider a case to be related to national security, said

Eric Lai,

a research fellow at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law.

Mr. Lee welcomed the decision and said it wouldn’t grant the chief executive additional powers beyond what was set out in the national security law. Overseas lawyers are welcome to act in cases that aren’t related to national security, Mr. Lee said.

An official for the Standing Committee’s Legislative Affairs Commission said the decision doesn’t undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy, but said the national security committee’s work isn’t to be challenged, according to Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency.

November’s ruling in favor of Mr. Lai by Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal was a rare setback for the city’s government, which has used the law to carry out a wide ranging crackdown on publishers, opposition lawmakers and organizations like unions following large and sometimes violent antigovernment protests in the city.

Mr. Lai, 75 years old, is the founder of the now-closed Apple Daily, a staunchly pro-democracy newspaper, and a fierce critic of Beijing and its rule in Hong Kong. He has been accused by Beijing of helping orchestrate the 2019 protests and faces charges of collusion with foreign powers over allegedly seeking sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials.

Hong Kong has a long-held common law tradition of allowing British lawyers to be admitted to the city’s justice system to act either for defendants or the government. Its top court also has several overseas judges who can be invited to join panels presiding over appeal cases.

It would be hard to prevent overseas lawyers in national security cases from being swayed or pressured by their governments in national security cases and to ensure they wouldn’t divulge state secrets revealed during the proceedings, Mr. Lee said in November.

Mr. Lai has been behind bars since December 2020. While awaiting his national security law trial, he was given prison sentences in separate cases including almost six years for a fraud conviction over a company sublease and another 20 months for participating in unauthorized protests.

His trial, originally set for December, was delayed until September 2023 after the Hong Kong government sought Beijing’s intervention.

Since the city’s handover to China in 1997, Beijing has issued five other interpretations of the city’s Basic Law, superseding any local court ruling. Hong Kong lawyers and activists have criticized these interventions, saying they undermine the independence of the city’s courts.

Write to Selina Cheng at selina.cheng@wsj.com