this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
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What is the context behind this?
2019 HK protests and CCP’s crackdown on its free press.
I know that, what did this guy actually do?
It's in the headline: "pro-democracy publisher".
He was a newspaper publisher in Hong Kong who refused to get in line. That's all.
He was accused of collaborating with foreign actors.
That IS illegal.
What did he actually do though?
He published newspapers. He was a newspaper publisher.
There's no free speech in China. Publishing a newspaper that doesn't follow the line of the Chinese Communist Party is a crime, and after the CCP took control over Hong Kong that applied to him as well.
You could get arrested (rightfully and not) in most of the world for publishing a myriad of things while still calling yourself "pro democracy" (see jan. 6 protests in the US)
I just wanted to know what he was actually saying to motivate this arrest....
The Jan 6 people were not arrested for publishing a newspaper.
But they were "fighting for democracy" too. Give me actual information so I can judge for myself.
Thats my point. They said they were anyway, but thats meaningless.
The arrest itself was actually "motivated" by what they referred to as unauthorised assembly during the pro-democracy protests. This 73 year old man went somewhere he shouldn't have, and clearly threatened the mighty CCP enough to warrant 20 months in prison in the process. Additional charges up to life are being stacked on top following from the "security law" meant to silence pro-democracy voices in Hong Kong, but as far as I know these charges have not been made public. His newspaper was published daily though, so the nature of his crime was quite public if you're really interested.
Here's a BBC story on the history of the newspaper.
I'm sorry I couldn't find anything published by Xinhua News Agency, I have a feeling you might have appreciated that more.
Still nothing about what prompted the authorities over there to deem it as a national security threat, just vague mentions of a national security law while admitting criticising the government is not actually forbidden if you don't abuse it. Jan. 6 protesters in the US were "pro-democracy" too, and so are both sides in the ukranian war. What did he actually say in those publications that prompted this arrest?
Am I just insane for to know a key fact about it before making my judgement of what happened?
Authoritarians often give vague or even contradictory justifications for arresting people. Apple Daily was promoting democracy in Hong Kong which was enough for him to be made an example of.
Democracy is a vague word that can mean different things. Both US and China call themselves democracies. Tell me what those justifications actually are and I can judge for myself instead of just believing whatever I'm told.
Literally ran a newspaper which espoused democracy and independent governance (Hong Kong status quo at the time).
You might also be interested to learn that democratically elected legislators in Hong Kong were arrested en masse from the floor of their legislative building for the exact same reason. It's as bad as it sounds.
Link me that information from any source that actually reports on it fully. I'm just trying to understand what actually happened there.
We will never know the details of the charges, because all the legal proceedings will be secret, which is the standard in China.
Someone below posted the charges btw.
Not seeing any evidence of public court proceedings in this thread.
He ran a prominen newspaper called Daily Apple, which was shut down by the government.
Did not kiss Winnie the Pooh's ass.
Do not kiss Uncle Sam's ass. I'm not about to believe anything based on hearsay.
Looks like he’s in prison for 2 years on shakey, but mostly self acknowledged fraud charges, and also facing new charges detailed in another comment below.
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/hong-kong-tycoon-jimmy-lai-jailed-over-five-years-fraud-charge-2022-12-10/