HONG KONG: Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been arrested on the charge of colluding with foreign powers under the new security law (NSL).
Lai’s Apple Daily reported that scores of police personnel raided the media house leading to the arrest of Lai on early Monday.
Later Monday morning, a livestream uploaded to Facebook by Apple Daily showed police searching the company’s newsroom.
This has been the most high-profile arrest carried out by the Hong Kong administration after China imposed the controversial law just over a month ago.
Posting a Twitter message, Mark Simon, a senior executive at Lai’s Next Media group, said that the tycoon was “being arrested for collusion with foreign powers at this time”.
Seven men in all, aged between 39 and 72, were arrested, according to a police statement, on charges including collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security, and conspiracy to commit fraud in line with Article 29 of the NSL.
Article 29 relates to alleged offences, including receiving any kind of support – directly or indirectly – from people overseas, and carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, CNN reported.
According to public broadcaster RTHK, those arrested include several top executives at Apple Daily — potentially a major blow to the newspaper’s operations in the city.
Who is Jimmy Lai?
Lai is a businessman estimated to be worth more than $1bn.He made his initial fortune in the clothing industry, and later ventured into media to establish the newspaper Apple Daily –critical of Hong Kong and mainland Chinese leadership.
Lai, also a British citizen, has been an activist against Beijing’s tight grip on Hong Kong. It may be noted that he supported the reform protests by participating in the anti-China demonstrations during which period he had warned that Hong Kong would become as corrupt as China as “without the rule of law, people who do business here will have no protection” there.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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