Jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Lai tells journalists to ‘stand tall’

JIMMY LAI, the Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon, has told his staff in a letter from prison that “freedom of speech is a dangerous job” and to “stand tall” days before he is to be sentenced in two cases against him.

Mr Lai’s message came as fellow democracy activist, Joshua Wong, received a second jail term under the territory’s strict new national security law imposed by Beijing.

Mr Lai, the 72-year-old founder of the Apple Daily newspaper, is in custody after prosecutors appealed successfully against a court decision to grant him bail on national security charges.

In the handwritten letter published by Apple Daily yesterday, Mr Lai wrote: “The era is falling apart before us, and it’s time for us to stand tall.”

“Working from the news field, it’s our responsibility to uphold justice,” Mr Lai said. “We have to be extra careful and not take risks, for the sake of our safety.”

Last August, police stormed Apple Daily’s offices and arrested Mr Lai. That marked a major escalation in the government’s efforts to clamp down on journalism and enforce the territory’s draconian national security law.

In March, the head of the public broadcaster, RTHK, was replaced and his successor, Patrick Li, has repeatedly withdrawn programmes deemed to be “biased and inaccurate”.

Separately, Mr Wong was sentenced to a further four months in prison after he was found guilty of the charges of unauthorised assembly and violating an anti-mask law during mass protests in October 2019.

Mr Wong, who pleaded guilty to both counts, is already serving a 13-and-ahalf-month sentence for organising an illegal assembly.

He was also among 47 democrats charged with conspiracy to commit subversion in February for running in an unofficial primary election in July last year. that was the largest single crackdown on the opposition since the new security law was implemented.

Mr Lai, who has described himself as “Beijing’s No 1 enemy”, stands accused of conspiring with “foreign forces” as well as fraud and protest-related charges. If convicted, he could face life imprisonment.

He has already been convicted on one unauthorised protest charge and pled guilty to another. He will be sentenced in both cases on Friday.

Mr Lai, a British citizen, arrived in Hong Kong as a refugee from mainland China in the 1960s. He made his fortune in the clothing industry and later founded the Next Digital media group, becoming a thorn in Beijing’s side.

‘It’s time for us to stand tall. Working from the news field, it’s our responsibility to uphold justice’