HK COUR T GRANTS BAIL TO PRO DEMOCRACY TYCOON IN COLLUSION CASE
HONG KONG— A Hong Kong court granted HK$10-million ($1.3-million) bail Wednesday to media tycoon Jimmy Lai, the highest profile prodemocracy activist charged under the city’s new national security law on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces.
An immediate appeal by the prosecution was then denied on the same day.
Lai is one of the financial hub’s most ardent critics of Beijing, while his Next Media group is considered one of the key remaining bastions of media freedom. He was arrested in August when about 200 police officers raided the newsroom of his Apple Daily tabloid.
Lai, 73, who had been in custody since Dec. 3, is also charged with fraud related to the lease of a building that houses Apple Daily.
The security law—which punishes what Beijing broadly defines as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in jail—has been condemned by the West and human rights groups as a tool to crush dissent in the semiautonomous, Chinese-ruled city.
Authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing say the law is necessary to plug gaping holes in national security defenses exposed by months of sometimes violent antigovernment and anti-China protests that rocked the global financial hub last year.
Under his bail terms, Lai is not allowed to meet with foreign officials, give any interviews, publish any articles or post on social media, and will have to remain at home and surrender his travel documents.
The tycoon has been a frequent visitor to Washington, meeting with officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to rally support for Hong Kong democracy, prompting Beijing to label him a “traitor.”