Hong Kong’s highest court has rejected a bid to prevent a British lawyer from representing democrat Jimmy Lai

On Monday, Hong Kong’s highest court ruled that a British lawyer can represent pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai in a national security trial, rejecting the government’s appeal to bar foreigner lawyers from such cases.

Lai is perhaps Hong Kong’s most vocal critic of China’s Communist Party leaders, including Xi Jinping, and the Department of Justice in Hong Kong has repeatedly attempted to prevent British barrister Timothy Owen from representing him.

The trial is scheduled to begin on December 1 and will last approximately 30 days.

Rimsky Yuen, a lawyer representing the government, told the Court of Final Appeal last Friday that the government is seeking a “blanket ban” on foreign lawyers handling national security cases, except in exceptional circumstances.

Yuen contended that cases involving such a “unique” piece of legislation as the national security law required someone familiar with Chinese national security, which an overseas lawyer “would not be able to do.”

However, a panel of three judges, criticised the Justice Department in a written judgement for “raising undefined and unsubstantiated issues said to involve national security that were not mentioned or explored in the Courts below.”