Hong Kong: Apple Daily vows to 'fight on' after arrest of its founder Jimmy Lai

Jimmy Lai’s Apple Daily newspaper strongly condemned the arrest of its founder under China’s draconian national security law and vowed to “fight on”. After Lai’s arrest, hundreds of Hong Kong police officers stormed the Apple Daily headquarters and conducted a search, in an unprecedented threat to press freedom in the territory.

Next Digital Limited, Lai’s media company, said in a statement that the officers were seen rifling through documents in the newsroom, creating an atmosphere of “white terror”. It said that the Hong Kong police blatantly bypassed the law and abused their power, despite claims about acting according to the rules.

“Apple Daily is furious and hereby strongly condemns the operation...As Publisher of Apple Daily Cheung Kim Hung says: Apple Daily shall fight on,” the statement read.

Hong Kong police arrested the media mogul on August 10 over suspected collusion with foreign forces. The 71-year-old entrepreneur has been a vocal critic of the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime and has been one of the main contributors to the pro-democracy camp.

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The arrest of Lai doesn’t come as a shock to Hong Kong’s relatively independent media since several media houses have started self-censorship to avoid charges under the new law. Steven Butler, Committee to Protect Journalists’ Asia program coordinator, had said in a statement that the arrest of the media tycoon bears out the worst fears that Hong Kong’s security law would be used to suppress critical pro-democracy opinion and restrict press freedom.

'Barbaric acts'

Next Digital accused police of ignoring the limitation of the search warrant and rifling through news materials, as well as restricting press members from reporting and obstructing a news organisation from operating. It asserted that the staff of Apple Daily will stay fearless and continue speaking the truth amid persecution in the face of these “illegal, unreasonable and barbaric tactics”.

“Hong Kong’s press freedom is now hanging by a thread, but our staff will remain fully committed to our duty to defend the freedom of the press,” said the media company.

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