“Freedom of speech is a dangerous job,” the Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai wrote by hand in a letter from prison last year. Apple Daily was founded by him, a scrappy tabloid paper that has become a voice in Hong Kong’s democracy. The authorities have brought up bogus charges against Mr. Lai under Beijing’s restrictive National Security Law. His trial is to begin this week — and the right to freedom of expression and association will be in the dock with him.
Mr. Lai wrote in his handwritten letter that it is “a journalist’s responsibility to uphold justice” and “it is precisely this that we need to love and cherish. … The era is falling apart before us, and it is time for us to stand tall.”
In that era, which included the many decades during which Mr. Lai rose out of poverty to become a wealthy man, Hong Kong was a beacon of freedom, enterprise and law. China promised that it would uphold this system when it seized Hong Kong in 1997 from Britain. But in recent years, it has betrayed the promise and absorbed the territory into the mainland’s authoritarian system, cracking down on public protests, arresting dissidents and journalists, and shutting down the free press — including Apple Daily, which published its last print edition on June 24, 2021, after the government seized its assets and forced a closure.
When he was 12, Mr. Lai fled the mainland to Hong Kong as a poor child. He learned English while working in sweatshops and became a child labourer. After acquiring a bankrupt garment factory, he built a clothing retail company with outlets across Asia. After the 1989 Tiananmen square massacre, he sold his business to become media tycoon. He founded the newspaper in 2015. Apple Daily, which was founded in 1995 by Mr. Lai, was a prominent critic of Beijing’s leadership.
The government attempted to intimidate and humiliate him several times when Mr. Lai was taken into custody. The most serious charges against him are the ones he faces in the upcoming trial. A conviction could result in life imprisonment. In June 2021, he was accused of colluding with foreign powers — a ludicrous charge. Police claimed some 30 articles in Apple Daily played a “crucial part” in a conspiracy with governments abroad to impose sanctions on China and Hong Kong — sanctions that were in response to China’s suppression of democracy in Hong Kong. In an ominous turn, six of Apple Daily’s top executives recently pleaded guilty to the collusion charges and some might testify against Mr. Lai. Although the trial is expected to begin on Thursday due to legal wrangling regarding whether Mr. Lai could be represented by a British attorney, it may be delayed.
Apple Daily and Mr. Lai don’t have criminal records. The attempt to extinguish this bright light of journalism and democracy illustrates once again the long shadow of intolerance and oppression that China’s Communist Party is casting over Hong Kong.
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