Beijing mouthpiece slams Hong Kong court for granting ‘extremely dangerous’ Jimmy Lai bail, warns China can take over his national security law case
- The state-run People’s Daily has suggested the bail decision ‘severely hurt Hong Kong’s rule of law’, and said ‘insurgents’ like Lai needed to be punished
- It also asserted the central government’s authority to take over jurisdiction of national security cases
The strongly-worded online commentary came just days after the Apple Daily founder – who is facing allegations of fraud and collusion with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed legislation – was granted bail by a High Court judge, who placed him under house arrest on Wednesday with several restrictions.
In an article headlined “Bail granted to Lai Chee-ying severely hurt Hong Kong’s rule of law”, the People’s Daily said the 73-year-old’s case held symbolic significance for the city, and urged the judiciary to “make the right decisions” and punish “insurgents” like him.
“If the judiciary fails to handle the case impartially and in accordance with the law, it will have severely hurt Hong Kong’s rule of law and placed the country’s security in an extremely dangerous situation, in turn bringing incalculable negative effects,” it said.
The unsigned commentary cited Article 55 of the security law, which allows the central government to assert jurisdiction over certain cases and move defendants to the mainland for trial, saying there were valid grounds for invoking the provision in Lai’s case.
The outlet accused Lai of continuing, through “words and deeds”, to call on foreign governments to sanction Hong Kong despite the enactment of the security law in June. It also maintained demands to release Lai made by foreign politicians, including US Vice-President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, had “confirmed” the allegations of collusion with foreign forces.