Jimmy Lai trial: heavy security presence as landmark national security case begins in Hong Kong

Activist Alexandra Wong, holding a British flag, shouts behind a police line outside West Kowloon magistrates court, where Jimmy Lai's trial opened in Hong Kong on Monday. Photograph: Vernon Yuen/AP

The media mogul and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai has gone on trial at a heavily guarded Hong Kong court on national security charges that could lead to life imprisonment.

Lai’s trial, expected to last months, is one of the most high-profile prosecutions in the Hong Kong government’s crackdown on opposition, and has been widely condemned by rights groups and other governments.