Hong Kong sentences defunct Apple Daily's Jimmy Lai, 7 others over Tiananmen vigil

A Hong Kong court on Sunday sentenced media tycoon Jimmy Lai and seven other pro-democracy supporters to up to 14 months of imprisonment for ‘illegal assembly' at the Tiananmen Square last year, according to several reports. Lai, the CEO, and founder of the now-defunct pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper was detained in a political crackdown under China’s draconian national security law. Authorities had banned the annual June 4 event, held only in Hong Kong, for the first time in three decades in 2020 citing the COVID restrictions that prohibited the public assembly.

A District Court in Hong Kong indicted him yesterday for inciting and participating in the candlelight vigil on June 4 organized by Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. Hong Kong police cracked down on the marchers and raided the closed June 4 museum run by the alliance to commemorate the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing on June 4, 1989. Those, including Lai, arrested by the police were charged with subversion under the national security law. 

Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China’s chairman, Lee Cheuk-yan, as well as vice-chairs Albert Ho and Chow Hang-tung were also detained by the police for “inciting subversion of state power.” Hong Kong government froze 2.2 million Hong Kong dollars (USD 280,000) worth of assets belonging to the alliance, which disbanded in September this year. 

During his Monday’s hearing, Lai told the court that he participated in the candlelight vigil to commemorate the sacrifices of those who died for justice and truth at Tiananmen Square in 1989, public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong reported. Alliance’s chairman Lee Cheuk-yan and vice-chair Chow Hang-tung were also sentenced to 14 months and  12 months in prison, respectively. 

Lai's Apple Daily shuts down

Hong Kong’s outspoken pro-democracy Apple Daily, founded by Lai, announced its closure in June this year after its assets were frozen in a major blow to media freedom. The Hong Kong officials blocked the HK$18m ($2.3m; £1.64m) assets owned by three companies linked to Apple Daily. Police arrested five top editors and executives of Apple Daily under the city's tough national security law on suspicion of foreign collusion The arrests and freezing of assets came as Hong Kong authorities cracked down on dissenting voices as Beijing tightened control over the autonomous territory.  Apple Daily has been outspoken in defending Hong Kong’s freedoms. In the years before closure, the newspaper criticized the Chinese and Hong Kong governments for limiting the city's democratic freedoms as well as constricting the rights of free speech and assembly not found on mainland China.