June 16, 2020, millionaire media tycoon Jimmy Lai, 72, poses during
an interview with AFP at the Next Digital offices in Hong Kong.
Anthony WALLACE / AFP
Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai was remanded
into custody on Thursday after being charged with fraud, the latest
in a string of prosecutions brought against high-profile Beijing
critics and democracy campaigners.
Lai, 73, is the owner of Hong Kong’s best-selling
Apple Daily, a popular tabloid that is unashamedly pro-democracy
and fiercely critical of authorities.
Lai and two of the firm’s executives — Royston Chow and Wong
Wai-keung — face fraud charges that court documents say are related
to the paper’s offices allegedly being used for purposes not
permitted by the building’s lease.
Police raided Apple Daily’s headquarters in August and arrested
a string of senior company figures, including Lai, on suspicion of
“collusion with foreign forces” under a vaguely worded new national
security law that Beijing imposed on the city.
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None has so far been charged with any national security
breaches.
But Victor So, the magistrate overseeing Thursday’s hearing, is
from a group of judges selected by Hong Kong’s chief
executive to try such cases.
So denied Lai bail but granted it to Wong and Chow, setting the
next court date for April.
The decision means Lai faces months behind bars as police
continue their investigation.
Lai, 73, (L) owner of the local Apple Daily newspaper, arrives at
Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre after he was remanded into custody in
Hong Kong on December 3, 2020, after being charged with fraud.
Anthony WALLACE / AFP
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A clampdown has gathered pace in Hong Kong since
China imposed its sweeping security law in June, with opposition
politicians disqualified and dozens of activists charged or
investigated.
On Wednesday, three prominent young democracy campaigners —
including Joshua Wong — were jailed for taking part in last year’s
democracy protests.
Lai is also being prosecuted for his alleged part in those
rallies in a separate case.
The crackdown has provoked outrage in the West and fear for
millions who last year took to the streets to protest communist
China’s tightening grip on the semi-autonomous city.
Beijing says stability and order has been restored and has
dismissed the huge crowds that protested as a foreign plot to
destabilise China.
Critics say Beijing has shredded the freedoms and
autonomy Hong Kong was promised ahead of its
handover by Britain.
Lai has long said he fears authorities want to shutter his
newspaper, one of the few local outlets still willing to vocally
take on Beijing.
In Chinese state media, he is routinely cast as a traitor and
“black hand”.
“I’m prepared for prison,” Lai told AFP in an interview two
weeks before the security law was imposed.
“I’m a troublemaker. I came here with nothing, the freedom of
this place has given me everything. Maybe it’s time I paid back for
that freedom by fighting for it,” he added.
Prosecutors have tried bringing cases against him in the
past.
He was acquitted in September of intimidating a reporter from a
rival pro-government newspaper.
The corruption watchdog also dropped a case against him over
political donations to pro-democracy supporters after four years of
investigations.
Authorities deny targeting Apple Daily or Lai and say police are
simply enforcing breaches of the law.
AFP