This file photo dated Aug 17, 2017 shows the High Court building in Hong Kong. (PHOTO / AFP)

Hong Kong’s High Court on Friday upheld the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government's decision to bar British King's Counsel Tim Owen from representing jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying in his national security trial.

The court dismissed Lai's application for judicial review, which claimed that the city’s Committee for Safeguarding National Security had exceeded its authority by instructing the Immigration Department to reject Owen's work visa.

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The city’s top court — the Court of Final Appeal — earlier ruled in favor of Lai’s request to hire Owen as his defense lawyer

Lai, founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, is charged with collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security and three other offenses. 

The city’s top court — the Court of Final Appeal — earlier ruled in favor of Lai’s request to hire Owen as his defense lawyer. 

At the request of Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, the National People's Congress Standing Committee gave an interpretation of the National Security Law, which stipulated that the decision to allow overseas lawyers to handle national security cases should be left to Lee and the national security committee he leads.

It also stated that all foreign lawyers who are not qualified to practice in Hong Kong must seek the CE's approval to participate in national security trials.

Subsequently, the city’s national security committee advised the Immigration Department to reject Owen's work visa application, as he had not obtained the chief executive’s approval and the proposed representation by Owen in Lai’s case would likely constitute national security risks.

On May 10, Hong Kong’s Legislative Council approved an amendment to the city’s Legal Practitioners Ordinance to further safeguard national security. It requires overseas lawyers to seek permission from the city’s chief executive before participating in national security cases and sets up the principles and mechanisms for the chief executive to approve and review applications from these lawyers.

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Unless the chief executive has sufficient grounds for believing that the lawyer’s role as a barrister in the case does not involve national security, or would not be contrary to the interests of national security, their applications would not be approved, according to the amendment.