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Hong Kong media tycoon and Beijing critic Jimmy Lai appeared in court docket Saturday to face a cost underneath a sweeping new nationwide safety legislation that see him jailed for all times.
He is accused of colluding with overseas international locations by calling on abroad governments to sanction Hong Kong and China in response to the crackdown on pro-democracy activism within the metropolis.
Lai, 73, is probably the most high-profile determine charged underneath the legislation, which has focused the town’s pro-democracy motion however introduced a semblance of calm to the finance hub after months of often-violent protests.
The police’s new nationwide safety division charged him Friday with “collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security” underneath the powerful legislation imposed on the town by Beijing. The offence carries a penalty of as much as life imprisonment.
The prosecutor instructed the court docket that Lai broke the safety legislation between July 1 and December 1 by requesting {that a} overseas nation or establishment, organisation or particular person “impose sanctions or blockade, or engage in other hostile activities” towards Hong Kong and China.
Lai, wearing a go well with and calm all through, stated he acknowledged the cost.
Chief Magistrate Victor So, one of many six magistrates hand-picked by the town’s pro-Beijing chief Carrie Lam to deal with nationwide safety circumstances, stated the prosecution wanted time to additional examine.
This included inspecting greater than a thousand messages from Lai’s Twitter accounts, a lot of media interviews the tycoon gave, and a lot of abroad visits in relation to requires US sanctions towards Hong Kong and China.
After the listening to, Lai’s supporters shouted phrases of encouragement, which he returned with a heart-shape hand gesture.
– Twitter and interviews –
Lai’s standard Apple Daily newspaper, citing sources, stated the majority of the police case revolved round social media posts and interviews Lai gave to Western media.
It reported that the police allegations stated Lai had adopted 53 folks on Twitter together with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and a member of Britain’s Conservative Party, Luke de Pulford, and that he had 120,000 followers together with Tiananmen scholar protest leaders Wang Dan and Wuer Kai Xi.
The report additionally stated the prosecution accused Lai of publishing remarks that focused China and Hong Kong by way of Twitter after the safety legislation got here into pressure.
It additionally stated Lai had given interviews to CNN, Fox News, Bloomberg, the New York Times, BBC Chinese and different overseas media calling for assist from the West and sanctions on China.
Lai’s Apple Daily is unashamedly pro-democracy and fiercely crucial of authorities. Police raided the paper’s headquarters in August and arrested a string of senior firm figures, together with Lai.
Last week, he was denied bail and remanded in custody till April after being charged with fraud. He was set to use for bail on that cost on the High Court on Tuesday.
He was denied bail on Saturday.
The controversial safety legislation additionally permits some trials to be heard behind closed doorways, and even be tried in mainland China.
Beijing’s clampdown on Hong Kong, particularly distinguished political figures, has dramatically accelerated because it imposed the safety legislation in June.
Opposition lawmakers have been disqualified from the legislature and main democracy activists have been jailed.
Two dozen folks have been arrested underneath the legislation and 4 have up to now been formally charged.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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