Monday, August 10, 2020

THE BUST
Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested, newsroom searched


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Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, right, who founded local newspaper Apple Daily, is arrested by police officers at his home in Hong Kong, Monday, Aug. 10, 2020. Lai was arrested Monday on suspicion of collusion with foreign powers, his aide said, in the highest-profile use yet of the new national security law Beijing imposed on the city after protests last year. (AP Photo)


Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, center, who founded local newspaper Apple Daily, is arrested by police officers at his home in Hong Kong, Monday, Aug. 10, 2020. Lai was arrested Monday on suspicion of collusion with foreign powers, his aide said, in the highest-profile use yet of the new national security law Beijing imposed on the city after protests last year. (AP Photo)




HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong authorities broadened their enforcement of a new national security law on Monday, arresting media tycoon Jimmy Lai, searching the headquarters of his Next Digital group and carting away boxes of what they said was evidence.

Two days after Chinese and Hong Kong officials shrugged off sanctions imposed on them by the U.S., the moves showed China’s determination to enforce the new law and curb dissent in the semi-autonomous city after months of massive pro-democracy demonstrations last year.

The police action marked the first time the law was used against news media, stoking fears that authorities are suppressing press freedom. Next Digital operates Apple Daily, a feisty pro-democracy tabloid that often condemns China’s Communist Party government. Last year, the newspaper frequently urged readers to take part in the anti-government protests.


Hong Kong police arrested Lai on Monday morning, an aide to the businessman said, in the highest-profile detention under the new law since it took effect in late June. Lai, 71, is an outspoken pro-democracy figure who regularly criticizes China’s authoritarian rule and Hong Kong’s government.

Mark Simon, a Next Digital executive and Lai’s aide, said Lai was charged with collusion with foreign powers. He said police searched the homes of Lai and his son and detained several other members of the media company.

Hong Kong police said they arrested at least nine people between the ages of 23 and 72 on suspicion of violating the new security law, with offenses including collusion with a foreign country and conspiracy to defraud. They did not release the names of those arrested or provide further details of the charges.



FILE - In this July 1, 2020, file photo, Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai pauses during an interview in Hong Kong. An aide to Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai says Lai was arrested Monday morning, Aug. 10, 2020, under the city’s national security law on suspicion of collusion with foreign powers. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)


Following Lai’s arrest, about 200 police raided Next Digital’s headquarters, cordoning off the area, searching desks and at times getting into heated exchanges with staff. What police were looking for in the building wasn’t clear, although they later said they took away 25 boxes of evidence for processing.

Lai, who was arrested at his mansion in Kowloon in the morning, was also brought to the headquarters of Next Digital, where he remained for about two and a half hours before police took him away in a car.

“We are completely shocked by what’s happening now, with the arrest and followed by the ongoing raid inside the headquarters of Next Digital,” said Chris Yeung, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association.

“With the passage of the national security law and the really tough powers given to the police in their operations, we have seen now what we call ‘white terror’ become a reality, which will affect media organizations and journalists’ reporting.”




Police unblocked Next Digital’s headquarters at mid-afternoon, with senior superintendent of police Steve Li saying that staff were free to resume their work.

Bruce Lui, a senior lecturer in Hong Kong Baptist University’s journalism department, said authorities are using the national security law to make an example of media outlets like Apple Daily and this may harm press freedom in Hong Kong.

“They’re used as an example to terrify others ... of what can happen if you don’t obey or if you go too far,” Lui said. “I think other media may make a judgment to censor themselves.”

The share price of Next Digital soared over 200% in the afternoon, following posts on a popular online forum encouraging investors to support the company by buying its stock.

The reason for the charge against Lai wasn’t clear.

In May, shortly after Beijing announced its intention to pass the national security law for Hong Kong, Lai condemned the legislation in a series of tweets. The state-owned newspaper Global Times called the tweets “evidence of subversion.”

Lai also wrote an op-ed in the New York Times in May stating that China was repressing Hong Kong with the legislation.

“I have always thought I might one day be sent to jail for my publications or for my calls for democracy in Hong Kong,” Lai wrote. “But for a few tweets, and because they are said to threaten the national security of mighty China? That’s a new one, even for me.”

Lai was earlier arrested in February and April for allegedly participating in unauthorized protests last year. He also faces charges of joining an unauthorized vigil on June 4 marking the anniversary of Beijing’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Last year, Lai met U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the White House to discuss a controversial bill — since withdrawn — that would have allowed criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be sent to mainland China for trial.

But Hong Kong officials have said the security law, which took effect June 30, would not be applied retroactively. The law is widely seen as a means to curb dissent after anti-government protests rocked the semi-autonomous city for months last year.

The legislation outlaws secessionist, subversive and terrorist acts, as well as collusion with foreign forces in the city’s internal affairs. The maximum punishment for serious offenders is life imprisonment.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council condemned the arrests in a statement, saying they were a tool for the Chinese Communist Party’s “political cleansing and hegemonic expansion.” It said the law is being abused to suppress freedom of speech, press freedom and the civil rights of Hong Kong people.

Last month, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said pro-democracy activist Nathan Law and five others were wanted under the law, although all six had fled overseas. Law relocated to Britain in July to continue international advocacy work for Hong Kong.

Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under security law, bearing out 'worst fears'

Greg TorodeJames Pomfret

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai became the highest-profile person arrested under a new national security law on Monday, detained over suspected collusion with foreign forces as around 200 police searched the offices of his Apple Daily newspaper.

Mainland-born Lai, who was smuggled into the British colony of Hong Kong on a fishing boat when he was a penniless 12-year-old, has been one of the most prominent democracy activists in the now Chinese-ruled city and an ardent critic of Beijing.

His arrest comes amid Beijing’s crackdown against pro-democracy opposition in the city and further stokes concerns about media and other promised freedoms when it returned to China in 1997. China imposed the sweeping new security law on Hong Kong on June 30, drawing condemnation from Western countries.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was “deeply troubled” by reports of the arrest, calling it further proof that the Chinese Communist Party had “eviscerated” Hong Kong’s freedoms and eroded the rights of its people.

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The arrest “bears out the worst fears that Hong Kong’s national security law would be used to suppress critical pro-democracy opinion and restrict press freedom”, said Steven Butler, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Asia programme coordinator.

Ryan Law, chief editor of Apple Daily, a staunch anti-government tabloid that also does investigative work, told Reuters the paper would not be intimidated.

“Business as usual,” he said.

The security law punishes anything China considers subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison. Critics say it crushes freedoms, while supporters say it will bring stability after prolonged anti-China, pro-democracy protests last year.


Beijing said it supported Lai’s arrest.


A spokesman for China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office told the official Xinhua news agency Lai was a representative of people who were “anti-China, anti-Hong Kong” and that he planned and instigated “illegal” protests, funded pro-independence forces and used his media group to spread rumours.

Lai, 71, had been a frequent visitor to Washington, where he has met officials, including Pompeo, to rally support for Hong Kong democracy, prompting Beijing to label him a “traitor”.

Hong Kong police said they had arrested nine men and one woman, aged between 23 and 72, without naming them, adding that further arrests were possible.

Suspected offences included “collusion with a foreign country/external elements to endanger national security, conspiracy to defraud” and others, the police said.




Media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, founder of Apple Daily (C) is detained by the national security unit in Hong Kong, China August 10, 2020. REUTERS/Tyrone SiuApple Daily posted on its Facebook page a livestream of police officers roaming through its newsroom and rifling through files, and asking staff for identity documents.

Some executive offices were sealed off with red cordons. The police later wheeled in stacks of empty plastic containers. Lai himself was brought back to the office, initially in handcuffs.

“We can’t worry that much, we can only go with the flow,” Lai said, before being escorted into a police vehicle.

Police said around 200 officers entered the premises with a court warrant and collected 25 boxes of evidence after finishing the search. The law allows police to search premises without one “under exceptional circumstances”.

In major cases in Hong Kong, the central government in Beijing can claim jurisdiction. The legislation allows agents to take suspects across the border for trials in Communist Party-controlled courts.

Apple Daily reported that one of Lai’s sons, Ian, had also been arrested at his home and later showed his restaurant, Cafe Seasons, being raided by police.

Shares in Lai’s media company Next Digital (0282.HK), which publishes Apple Daily, plunged 16.7% before rebounding to trade 344% higher at one point as online pro-democracy forums called on investors to buy shares to show support.

‘THIRD-WORLD’
Other senior Apple Daily staff, including Executive Director Cheung Kim-hung, were also arrested.

“We see this as straight harassment,” an Apple Daily source said, adding that Lai was arrested on suspicion of sedition, criminal fraud and colluding with foreign forces.

Next Media Trade Union called the search “an extremely rare and serious incident in Hong Kong history”, with a “catastrophic” impact. It said journalists “will continue to guard their posts until the last minute”.


Britain said the arrest was further evidence the security law was “a pretext to silence opposition”.

Hong Kong Journalists Association chairman Chris Yeung said the search was akin to “third-world” press freedom suppression.

Apple Daily executive Chan Pui-man said the newspaper will be published on Tuesday.

“Even if Apple Daily publish a pile of blank paper tomorrow, we would go and buy a copy,” prominent young activist Joshua Wong said on Twitter.


Wong’s longtime colleague, Agnes Chow, and two other activists were among those arrested, local media reported.

In a Reuters interview in May, Lai pledged to stay in Hong Kong and continue to fight for democracy.

Before Monday, 15 people, including teenagers, had been arrested under the new law.

The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and other officials, drawing mockery and condemnation from Beijing.

The arrests show Hong Kong “wasn’t intimidated” by sanctions, Global Times editor Hu Xijin said in a tweet. Global Times is published by China’s official Communist Party newspaper, the People’s Daily.

Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in Washington, Jessie Pang, Yanni Chow, Carol Mang, Noah Sin, Donny Kwok, Clare Jim, Meg Shen, Twinnie Siu, Anne Marie Roantree and Marius Zaharia in Hong Kong, Yimou Lee in Taipei, and Yew Lun Tian in Beijing; Writing by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Gerry Doyle, Raju Gopalakrishnan, William Maclean and Nick Macfie

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