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HONG KONG: Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai was taken into custody on Thursday (December 3) after being charged with fraud, the latest in a series of prosecutions against leading Beijing critics and activists by democracy.
Lai, 73, is the owner of Hong Kong’s best-selling Apple Daily, a popular tabloid that is blatantly pro-democracy and fiercely critical of the authorities.
Lai and two of the firm’s executives, Royston Chow and Wong Wai-keung, face fraud charges that, according to court documents, are related to the newspaper’s offices that are allegedly being used for purposes not permitted by the company’s lease. building.
Police raided the Apple Daily headquarters in August and arrested several top company officials, including Lai, on suspicion of “collusion with foreign forces” under a vaguely worded new national security law that Beijing imposed on the city.
READ: Timeline: The Impact of National Security Law in Hong Kong
None have so far been charged with national security violations.
But Victor So, the magistrate overseeing Thursday’s hearing, belongs to a group of judges selected by Hong Kong’s chief executive to try those cases.
So he 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.
A crackdown has accelerated in Hong Kong since China imposed its comprehensive security law in June, with opposition politicians disqualified and dozens of activists charged or investigated.
On Wednesday, three prominent young democracy activists, including Joshua Wong, were jailed for participating in last year’s democracy protests.
READ: Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong jailed for 13 and a half months for 2019 anti-government protest
Lai is also being prosecuted for his alleged participation in those rallies in a separate case.
The crackdown has sparked outrage in the West and fear in millions who took to the streets last year to protest China’s tightening of control over the city.
Beijing says stability and order have been restored and has dismissed large crowds who protested as a foreign plot to destabilize China.
Critics say Beijing has shattered the freedoms and autonomy that Hong Kong was promised before it was handed over by Britain.
Lai has long said that he fears authorities may want to shut down his newspaper, one of the few local outlets still willing to openly confront Beijing.
In Chinese state media, he is routinely considered a traitor and a “black hand”.
READ: Is democracy in Hong Kong weakening forever?
READ: China’s Polarizing New Security Law: Sunset for Hong Kong or Return to Stability?
“I am prepared for jail,” 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 for that freedom by fighting for it.”
Prosecutors have tried to bring cases against him in the past.
He was acquitted in September of intimidating a reporter for a rival government newspaper.
The corruption watchdog also dropped a case against him for political donations to supporters after four years of investigations.
Authorities deny targeting Apple Daily or Lai and say police are simply enforcing infractions of the law.
