Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee has asked Beijing to decide whether overseas counsel are allowed to take part in national security trials in Hong Kong under the city’s national security law or whether they should be blocked from working on national security cases. 

Lee made the move shortly after a ruling from the city’s top court upheld an earlier decision to allow a U.K. barrister to represent media tycoon Jimmy Lai in a high-profile national security trial that had been scheduled to begin on Thursday.