Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai wanted Apple Daily to prepare list for US of officials to face sanctions after Trump executive order, court hears

Ex-Apple Daily associate publisher Chan Pui-man says her former boss once asked her whether the newspaper could follow up on Trump executive order

Court hears evidence on Apple Daily’s decisions to play up certain events after national security law came into force

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Chan Pui-man (centre), a defendant turned prosecution witness, back in June 2021. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:45pm, 22 Feb 2024Updated: 9:46pm, 22 Feb 2024

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying suggested his now-closed Apple Daily tabloid prepare a sanctions list for the United States after then president Donald Trump signed a directive seeking to penalise those said to have helped to undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy, a court has heard.

Ex-Apple Daily associate publisher Chan Pui-man said on Thursday that her former boss once asked her whether the newspaper could follow up on Trump’s executive order, signed on July 14, 2020, which involved suspending preferential trading treatment for Hong Kong and empowering the US government to take punitive measures against foreign individuals and banks.

A forwarded text message sent by Lai on July 15 that year said the order was “quite expansive” and allowed the Trump administration to freeze the property of anyone who engaged in acts that undermined the city’s democratic institutions, as well as those involved in “censorship or other activities with respect to Hong Kong that prohibit, limit, or penalise the exercise of freedom of expression or assembly by citizens of Hong Kong”.

“I’d say we should work up a s*** list on those involved in censorship, which can include intimidation,” Lai reportedly said.

Chan, a defendant turned prosecution witness, said she believed Lai intended for Apple Daily to suggest which individuals should be caught in the sanctions net.

“In the end, was any such list prepared?” prosecutor Ivan Cheung Cheuk-kan asked.

“No,” the witness replied. “We in a news report could only talk about the impact the executive order had on Hong Kong.