Jimmy Lai trial: Japanese paper made to explain dealings with activists, including Agnes Chow, in Apple Daily owner’s case, Hong Kong court hears
- A warrant signed on August 6, 2020, had demanded that Nikkei China (Hong Kong) submit to police any exchanges it had with Chow and fellow activist Andy Li
- Police obtained emails between Nikkei, Chow, Li and paralegal Wayland Chan after paper ran political advertisement in response to 2019 anti-government protests
A Japanese newspaper’s Hong Kong branch was forced under the national security law to explain its dealings with two opposition activists, including Agnes Chow Ting, who were allegedly involved in an international lobbying campaign orchestrated by media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, a court heard on Monday.
The name of Chow, 27, was mentioned for the first time in the tycoon’s national security trial as it entered its seventh day in West Kowloon Court.
The prosecution said a Court of First Instance judge signed a warrant on August 6, 2020, demanding that Nikkei China (Hong Kong) submit to police any exchanges it had with Chow and fellow activist Andy Li Yu-hin.
Nikkei ran a political advertisement on August 19, 2019 titled “For Freedom’s Sake, Together with Hong Kong” calling on the Japanese government and lawmakers to “act for freedom” in response to the city’s anti-government protests that year.
Police subsequently obtained copies of six emails between Nikkei, Chow, Li and paralegal Wayland Chan Tsz-wah between August 14 and 22 of 2019, the content of which was not explained in Monday’s session. Chow’s involvement was limited to the August 14 email in which she was a recipient, the court heard.
National security police arrested Lai, Chow and Li in a high-profile operation on August 10, 2020.
After securing police bail, Li attempted to flee to Taiwan by boat together with 11 others later that month, but was intercepted in mainland Chinese waters and subsequently jailed by a Shenzhen court.
He and Chan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces in August 2021. They have agreed to testify for the prosecution in the present trial.
The Jimmy Lai trial so far: daily updates on his Hong Kong national security case
Chow was never charged with a national security offence but was required to report to police every three months. She jumped bail last month after police returned her passport for her to pursue a master’s degree in Canada.
After wrapping up its three-day opening statement last week, the prosecution read out a set of undisputed facts that parties had agreed upon for the trial of the founder of the now-closed Apple Daily tabloid.
Lai faces two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed national security law, as well as a third arising from colonial-era sedition legislation.
Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai ‘gave more than HK$8.9 million to anti-China group’
Three overseas political figures, Luke de Pulford from the UK, former Japanese lawmaker Shiori Kanno and US-born British financier Bill Browder, have been named as co-conspirators under one of the collusion charges.
Nick Cheung Chi-wai, former director of Apple Daily’s digital platform, and columnist Simon Lee Chao-fu, who reportedly managed Lai’s now-closed account on X, formerly known as Twitter, were listed as co-conspirators in the other collusion charge. The pair have not been arrested.
A 179-page prosecution opening statement read out in court last week alleged that 76-year-old Lai had exercised full control over Apple Daily and gave instructions to its senior editorial staff when the tabloid published 161 seditious articles between April 2019 and June 2021.
Thirty-one of those articles were said to have also called for foreign sanctions after the national security law took effect in June 2020.
Lai was said to have financed and orchestrated an international lobbying campaign titled “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong” (SWHK) in a bid to convince the United States and its allies to introduce sanctions and trade restrictions, as well as sever agreements with Hong Kong over the extradition of fugitives and mutual legal assistance.
Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai set up English Apple Daily to win US support, court hears
Ivan Cheung Cheuk-kan, an assistant director of public prosecutions, said Lai had email communications with US politicians including former deputy secretary of defence Paul Wolfowitz, former US army general Jack Keane, and Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council.
The trio – together with a former US consul general in Hong Kong, James Blair Cunningham – were earlier alleged to have maintained “close and direct contact” with Lai and the tycoon’s right-hand man, ex-US intelligence agent Mark Simon, on matters including the timing and targets for sanctions on Hong Kong authorities.
Cheung also drew the court’s attention to an SWHK report dated November 2022, in which the group urged then British foreign secretary James Cleverly to sanction Hong Kong officials and politicians loyal to Beijing for alleged human rights violations.
Separately, the court approved a leave of absence requested by Lai’s lead counsel to handle private matters.
Robert Pang Yiu-hung SC would be absent from the trial for two weeks for “personal reasons”, the court heard.
Steven Kwan Man-wai, one of six barristers representing Lai, asked that the court keep the reasons for Pang’s absence under wraps to safeguard his privacy.
Lead prosecutor Anthony Chau Tin-hang said parties planned to call up to 15 witnesses to give oral evidence in court, adding that the key ones would only take the stand after Pang’s return.
The trial continues on Tuesday.
