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National security law: despite arrest, Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai says he would ‘still have gone down same path’
- Lai, 71, tells Apple Daily staff he has no regrets about founding the newspaper although it has made him a target of Beijing
- Asked what will happen to the paper, Lai says: ‘Let’s continue. We have the backing of Hongkongers and we should not let them down’
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Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying spoke of the ordeal of spending a sleepless night in police custody when he returned to his office on Wednesday but pledged to keep the newspaper running, as Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong backed the operation in which he and others were arrested.
The 71-year-old media mogul told his staff he had no regrets about founding his tabloid-style newspaper 25 years ago although it had turned him into a target of Beijing decades later.
He became the most high-profile figure to be held under a sweeping national security law Beijing put in place six weeks ago when police arrested him, his two sons, four senior employees and three activists, including Agnes Chow Ting, on Monday.
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Shortly after returning to the company’s Tseung Kwan O headquarters to a hero’s welcome from staff, Lai called a meeting attended by dozens of employees.
03:11
Hong Kong opposition activist Agnes Chow and Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai released on bail
Hong Kong opposition activist Agnes Chow and Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai released on bail
He told them he was locked in a police cell with a tiny bench. “I couldn’t sleep there because I’m fat. So I lay down on the floor. Sleepless. You can’t really sleep there,” he said in a video clip of the speech seen by the Post.
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