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HONG KONG: Hong Kong media mogul and Beijing critic Jimmy Lai was indicted under a new national security law on Friday (December 11), charged with conspiring with foreign forces.
Lai, a fervent critic of Beijing, became the highest-profile person charged under the new law.
The law has been condemned by the West and human rights groups as a tool to crush dissent. Authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing say it is vital to plug holes in national security defenses exposed by months of sometimes violent protests that have rocked the city over the past year.
News of the charges comes as authorities intensify their crackdown on opposition forces that has led to the firing of lawmakers and the imprisonment of high-profile democratic activists like Joshua Wong.
Lai, 73, was charged “with one count of ‘collusion with a foreign country or external elements to endanger national security,'” police said in a statement.
Crimes against national security carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
READ: Hong Kong National Security Law: 5 Key Facts You Need to Know
The editor will appear in court on Saturday in connection with the national security charge, police said.
Lai 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.
Police raided the newspaper’s headquarters in August and arrested a number of senior company figures, including Lai, on suspicion of “collusion with foreign forces” under the vaguely worded new law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong.
He was denied bail earlier this month on a separate count of fraud related to the lease of a building that houses Apple Daily. He is scheduled to apply for bail on that charge in Superior Court on Tuesday.
Lai had been a frequent visitor to Washington, where he met with officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to rally support for Hong Kong’s democracy, prompting Beijing to label him a “traitor.”
He was being prosecuted for his alleged participation in last year’s anti-government demonstrations.
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 said the police are simply enforcing violations of the law.
READ: Hong Kong Security Law: Hailed by China Loyalists, Condemned by the West
Pro-Beijing authorities in the financial center have increasingly targeted prominent members of the Hong Kong democracy movement, including young leaders like Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, who were jailed last week.
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 the large crowds who protested as a foreign plot to destabilize China.
LEE: China’s polarizing new security law: Sunset for Hong Kong or return to stability?
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 portrayed as a traitor and a “black hand”.
