AP gets rare glimpse of jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai
AP gets rare glimpse of jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai
The Associated Press got a rare glimpse of jailed publisher and prominent pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai.
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What is the context behind this?
2019 HK protests and CCP’s crackdown on its free press.
I know that, what did this guy actually do?
The case against him is for collusion with foreign forces to undermine national security.
That is a very different thing from simply being "pro democracy", they charged rioters in the US with this excuse and they were also calling themselves pro democracy.
Still can't find a clear answer to my question on Google, smells weird to me.
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/
vague terms like "pro-democracy" are used leaving the readers to imagine what it means.
That's precisely why I'm curious for more details on this. This can either be an attack on democracy or just curbing extremists.
The fact I can find nothing in a language I can understand about his actual crimes is suspicious to me because that piece of information changes everything.
If you're pro-democracy in an authoritarian state you kind of have to collude with foreign democracies.
Being pro democracy is as vague as it gets. What was he actually fighting for or against?
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.
What did he actually do though?
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.
You could get arrested (rightfully and not) in most of the world for publishing a myriad of things while still calling yourself "pro democracy" (see jan. 6 protests in the US)
I just wanted to know what he was actually saying to motivate this arrest....
The Jan 6 people were not arrested for publishing a newspaper.
But they were "fighting for democracy" too. Give me actual information so I can judge for myself.
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.
Still nothing about what prompted the authorities over there to deem it as a national security threat, just vague mentions of a national security law while admitting criticising the government is not actually forbidden if you don't abuse it. Jan. 6 protesters in the US were "pro-democracy" too, and so are both sides in the ukranian war. What did he actually say in those publications that prompted this arrest?
Am I just insane for to know a key fact about it before making my judgement of what happened?
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.
Link me that information from any source that actually reports on it fully. I'm just trying to understand what actually happened there.
He was accused of collaborating with foreign actors.
That IS illegal.
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.
He ran a prominen newspaper called Daily Apple, which was shut down by the government.
Did not kiss Winnie the Pooh's ass.
Do not kiss Uncle Sam's ass. I'm not about to believe anything based on hearsay.
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.