One of the few tycoons who dared to insult the Chinese Communist Party, Jimmy Lai has long been a thorn in Beijing’s side. With his popular Chinese-language newspaper, Apple Daily, he backed pro-democracy protests that swept over Hong Kong in 2019.
Mr. Lai, 77, was one of the first and most prominent targets of a national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong the following year, under which more than 340 people have since been arrested.
He has been behind bars since December 2020, and is also serving a five-year sentence for fraud after being convicted of violating the terms of a lease agreement. In 2021, he was sentenced to one year in prison, along with other pro-democracy figures, over his role in an unauthorized peaceful protest. His health has faltered after years in detention.
His latest trial, on the most serious charges against him, is now coming to an end.
Here’s what to know.
Who is Jimmy Lai?
Mr. Lai is a self-made businessman who made his fortune in textiles. Born in China in 1947, he stowed away on a boat to the then-British colony of Hong Kong at age 12 and worked his way up the factory floor. He founded Giordano, a clothing chain with stores across Asia. He later acquired British citizenship.
He was a rare tycoon who did not keep quiet about his political stance.
When student activists in China protested for a more democratic government in 1989, he printed T-shirts with the faces of activists. After Chinese troops killed hundreds, possibly thousands, of demonstrators who had occupied Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Mr. Lai decided to become a publisher, launching Next Magazine in 1990 and Apple Daily in 1995.
In a 1994 column, he told the then-Chinese premier, Li Peng — who was seen as a force behind the 1989 Beijing crackdown — to “drop dead.” After Beijing closed Mr. Lai’s clothing stores in mainland China, he decided to sell his stake in the business to focus on his media business.
Mr. Lai became a prominent opposition figure. His outlets gave blanket coverage to mass pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, including in 2014 and 2019. “I believe in the media, by delivering information, you’re actually delivering freedom,” Mr. Lai said in an interview in 2020 with The New York Times.
Why is he on trial?
Mr. Lai stands accused of “collusion with foreign forces” and “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces,” offenses under the national security law that can be punished by up to life in prison.
The newsroom of Apple Daily was raided twice by police before the newspaper was forced to close down. Five executives and editors who worked with Mr. Lai were also arrested in 2021 and pleaded guilty to collusion charges in the same case.
Prosecutors argued that Mr. Lai was a “radical political figure” who led a global campaign asking foreign governments to target China and Hong Kong with sanctions to hold them accountable for their crackdown on free speech.
Mr. Lai, who faces a separate count of conspiracy to publish seditious material in Apple Daily, denies the charges.
Prosecutors showed diagrams charting his alleged ties with diplomats, lawmakers and officials in the United States, Britain and Japan. Calling for sanctions is considered a “hostile activity” against the government, and is an offense under the national security law. The evidence presented against Mr. Lai focused on meetings he held with American politicians, messages he had exchanged with officials, and views that he expressed in interviews with news outlets or on social media.
Mr. Lai’s lawyers argued that his calls for sanctions ceased after the national security law took effect, and that he never intended to break the law. Robert Pang, one of his lawyers, argued that it was not wrong to exert pressure on the government in the hopes that it would change its policies.
Mr. Lai’s trial was not heard by a jury, but by three judges appointed by the city’s leader to hear national security cases. Some of his former colleagues testified against him in exchange for a reduction in their sentences.
What did Mr. Lai say in his testimony?
Mr. Lai took the stand for more than 50 days. When questioned, he made light of his meetings with American politicians and denied he had asked them for political favors beyond voicing support for Hong Kong.
He described his conversations with the former national security adviser, John Bolton, as general “chitchat” and said he didn’t listen “very intently” during a meeting with Nancy Pelosi, then the House speaker. Donations of between $20,000 and $50,000 he made to American think tanks were “too small to even be mentioned,” he said.
He defended his intentions in running Apple Daily, saying it reflected the values of the Hong Kong people, including the pursuit of democracy and freedom of speech, religion and assembly. China has accused the tabloid of spreading “fake news” and “hate speech,” and instigating “Hong Kong independence.”
“All I was doing was carrying a torch to the reality,” Mr. Lai said.
Tiffany May is a reporter based in Hong Kong, covering the politics, business and culture of the city and the broader region.
The post What to Know About Jimmy Lai’s Trial in Hong Kong appeared first on New York Times.
