(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Bloomberg
Hong Kong: Hong Kong is looking to pass a legislative amendment to prevent British lawyer Timothy Owen from defending media tycoon Jimmy Lai in a national security law trial in September, the South China Morning Post reported, citing unidentified person in government.
The person said the executive branch could still not legally overturn the top court's earlier decision to allow Owen to defend Lai, according to the report.
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China's Standing Committee, the country's top legislative body, on Friday said Hong Kong courts should get approval from the city's leader or an oversight committee before an overseas lawyer takes part in national security cases.
Hong Kong's Chief Executive John Lee said: 'We welcome overseas lawyers to practice in cases not related to national security, so we are confining this to cases related to national security.”
Lee, who chairs the city's Committee for Safeguarding National Security, will call a meeting in the near future during which the body is expected to lay down a framework to resolve the dispute by seeking amendments to the Legal Practitioners Ordinance, the South China Morning Post reported.
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