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HONG KONG: Hong Kong media mogul and Beijing critic Jimmy Lai appeared in court on Saturday morning (December 12) to face a charge under national security law that could put him in jail for for life.
He is accused of colluding with foreign countries, calling on overseas governments to sanction Hong Kong and China in response to the crackdown on activism in the city.
Lai, 73, is the most prominent figure charged under the broad law, which has targeted the city’s pro-democracy movement but brought a semblance of calm to the financial center after months of often violent protests.
The new national security department of the police charged him Friday with “collusion with a foreign country or external elements to endanger national security” under the security law. The crime carries a penalty of up to life imprisonment.
READ: UK ‘deeply concerned’ after Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai indicted under national security law
The prosecutor told the court that Lai’s crime was requesting, from July 1 to December 1, that a foreign country or institution, organization or individual outside of mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao “impose sanctions or blockade, or participate in other hostile activities “against Hong Kong and China.
Hong Kong activist and media mogul Jimmy Lai, escorted by Correctional Services officers, gets into a prison van on December 12, 2020 (Photo: AP / Kin Cheung).
Lai, dressed in a suit and calm at all times, said he recognized the position.
Chief Justice Victor So, one of six judges chosen by Beijing’s city leader Carrie Lam to handle national security cases, said the prosecution needed time to investigate more than 1,000 messages from Beijing accounts. Lai’s Twitter, various media outlets. interviews given by the mogul and a series of visits abroad in connection with calls for US sanctions against Hong Kong and China.
After the hearing, Lai’s supporters shouted words of encouragement, which he responded with with a heart-shaped hand gesture.
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Lai is the owner of the Hong Kong Apple Daily, a popular newspaper that is blatantly pro-democracy and fiercely critical of the authorities. Police raided the newspaper’s headquarters in August and arrested several senior company officials, including Lai.
Last week, he was denied bail and remained in custody until April after being charged with fraud. He was scheduled to apply for bail on that charge in Superior Court on Tuesday.
However, general law states that no bond should be granted unless the judge has sufficient reason to believe that the suspect will no longer endanger national security.
On Saturday, Magistrate So denied Lai’s request for bail.
The controversial law also allows some trials to be heard behind closed doors, or even tried in mainland China.
Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong, especially prominent political figures, has accelerated dramatically since it imposed the security law in June.
Opposition lawmakers have been disqualified from the legislature and leading democracy activists have been jailed.
Two dozen people have been arrested under the law and four have been officially charged so far.
