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Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai slapped with extra national security law charge, also accused of perverting course of justice over fugitive’s escape to Taiwan
- Apple Daily owner accused of colluding with foreign forces between July 2020 and January 2021
- Charge says Lai conspired with others including American Mark Simon
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Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has been charged with an additional national security offence for allegedly calling for foreign sanctions and another of perverting the course of justice for helping in a fugitive’s escape to Taiwan.
Prosecutors accused the 73-year-old founder of Next Digital of taking part in a separate conspiracy to collude with foreign forces between July 2020 and January 2021, on top of the same charge he is already facing.
The charge was laid before Lai on the same day he was handed 14 months in jail for his role in two unauthorised assemblies during the anti-government protests in 2019.
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Prosecutors argued that between July and August last year, Lai also implicated himself in another plot involving Chan Tsz-wah, a legal assistant, and activist Andy Li Yu-hin to arrange the latter’s escape.
Li was among 12 people detained in mainland China last year after the Chinese coastguard intercepted them as they tried to flee to Taiwan. Eleven faced charges over the 2019 unrest at the time of their escape, while Li had been arrested but not charged.
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