this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
281 points (96.7% liked)
World News
37104 readers
1232 users here now
News from around the world!
Rules:
-
Please only post links to actual news sources, no tabloid sites, etc
-
No NSFW content
-
No hate speech, bigotry, propaganda, etc
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
2019 HK protests and CCP’s crackdown on its free press.
The case against him is for collusion with foreign forces to undermine national security.
It's difficult to find information on Google because vague terms like "pro-democracy" are used leaving the readers to imagine what it means.
I got what I told you from this Reuters article: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/national-security-trial-hong-kong-pro-democracy-tycoon-postponed-next-sept-2022-12-13/
If you're pro-democracy in an authoritarian state you kind of have to collude with foreign democracies.
This article explains what Hong Kong Democracy advocates were calling for before they were put down by the government
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/13/what-do-the-hong-kong-protesters-want
Are you a broken record or what.
With limited information, knowing what we know about the Chinese government, I know I sure ain’t giving them the benefit of the doubt here
Edit: interesting to see which way this sentiment swings the votes here
It's in the headline: "pro-democracy publisher".
He was a newspaper publisher in Hong Kong who refused to get in line. That's all.
He published newspapers. He was a newspaper publisher.
There's no free speech in China. Publishing a newspaper that doesn't follow the line of the Chinese Communist Party is a crime, and after the CCP took control over Hong Kong that applied to him as well.
The Jan 6 people were not arrested for publishing a newspaper.
But they believe they have the silent majority behind them.
The arrest itself was actually "motivated" by what they referred to as unauthorised assembly during the pro-democracy protests. This 73 year old man went somewhere he shouldn't have, and clearly threatened the mighty CCP enough to warrant 20 months in prison in the process. Additional charges up to life are being stacked on top following from the "security law" meant to silence pro-democracy voices in Hong Kong, but as far as I know these charges have not been made public. His newspaper was published daily though, so the nature of his crime was quite public if you're really interested.
Here's a BBC story on the history of the newspaper.
I'm sorry I couldn't find anything published by Xinhua News Agency, I have a feeling you might have appreciated that more.
Authoritarians often give vague or even contradictory justifications for arresting people. Apple Daily was promoting democracy in Hong Kong which was enough for him to be made an example of.
Literally ran a newspaper which espoused democracy and independent governance (Hong Kong status quo at the time).
You might also be interested to learn that democratically elected legislators in Hong Kong were arrested en masse from the floor of their legislative building for the exact same reason. It's as bad as it sounds.
He was accused of collaborating with foreign actors.
That IS illegal.
He ran a prominen newspaper called Daily Apple, which was shut down by the government.
We will never know the details of the charges, because all the legal proceedings will be secret, which is the standard in China.
Someone below posted the charges btw.
Not seeing any evidence of public court proceedings in this thread.
Did not kiss Winnie the Pooh's ass.
Looks like he’s in prison for 2 years on shakey, but mostly self acknowledged fraud charges, and also facing new charges detailed in another comment below.
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/hong-kong-tycoon-jimmy-lai-jailed-over-five-years-fraud-charge-2022-12-10/