British minister met Hong Kong tycoon Lai's legal team - Downing Street

LONDON (Reuters) - The legal team of Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy Hong Kong tycoon sentenced to over five years in jail last month, met a British junior foreign office minister on Tuesday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesperson said.

"The British government will always support rights and freedoms and the rule of law," the spokesperson told reporters.

"The foreign office ... has provided support for Jimmy Lai for some time, and Minister for Asia Anne-Marie Trevelyan has met his legal team today."

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill, writing by Alistair Smout, editing by Elizabeth Piper)