Hailed by some as a hero and scorned by others as a traitor, Hong Kong's pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai is in the final stage of his national security trial. Closing arguments begin on Thursday for Lai, who is accused of colluding with foreign forces under a Beijing-imposed national security law.

Days before winning his second presidential term, Donald Trump made a bold promise: if he returned to the White House, he would free a pugnacious, self-made billionaire from a Hong Kong prison.

This week, a Hong Kong court began hearing closing arguments in Lai's trial, a case that has become a litmus test of Beijing’s crackdown on dissent and of Trump’s willingness to raise human rights issues while courting a trade agreement with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.