Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英) yesterday was remanded into custody after being charged with fraud, the latest in a string of prosecutions brought against high-profile Beijing critics and democracy advocates.
Lai, 73, is the owner of Hong Kong’s best-selling tabloid, the Apple Daily, which is unashamedly pro-democracy and fiercely critical of the authorities.
Lai and two of the firm’s executives — Royston Chow (周達權) and Wong Wai-keung (黃偉強) — 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.
Photo: EPA/EFE
Police raided the headquarters of the Apple Daily in August and arrested a string of senior company figures, including Lai, on suspicion of “collusion with foreign forces,” under a vaguely worded National Security Law that Beijing imposed on the territory.
None has so far been charged with any national security breaches, but Chief Magistrate Victor So (蘇惠德), who oversaw yesterday’s hearing, is from a group of judges selected by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) 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, who was later photographed arriving at prison with his hands cuffed, faces months behind bars as police continue their investigation.
China’s clampdown on Hong Kong has dramatically accelerated since it imposed its sweeping security law in June, with opposition politicians disqualified, and dozens of democracy advocates charged or investigated.
Three prominent young democracy advocates — Joshua Wong (黃之鋒), 24, Agnes Chow (周庭), 23, and Ivan Lam (林朗彥), 26 — were jailed on Wednesday for taking part in last year’s protests.
Lai is also being prosecuted for his alleged part in those rallies in a separate case.
Judges have also denied bail to others prosecuted for their political views.
Former radio presenter Tam Tak-chi (譚得志) has been in custody since mid-September after he became the first person since the 1997 handover from the UK to be charged with “uttering seditious words” under a colonial era law.
At a hearing yesterday he was denied bail ahead of his trial in May.
The crackdown has provoked outrage in the West and fear for millions who last year took to the streets to protest Beijing’s tightening grip on the territory.
Lai has long said that he fears the authorities want to shutter his newspaper, one of the few local media 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 said 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.”
Prosecutors have tried bringing cases against him in the past.
Lai in September was acquitted of intimidating a reporter from a pro-government newspaper.
The corruption watchdog also dropped a case against him over political donations to democracy advocates after four years of investigations.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
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