this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
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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.