By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Aug. 10: Hong Kong’s pro-democracy media tycoon, Jimmy Lai, was arrested on Monday under the new security law for “colluding with foreign forces and fraud” at his house around 7 am. Lai owns the Apple Daily newspaper and Next Magazine which are critical of Beijing and its anti-democratic sentiments.
The crackdown on democracy supporters has continued to subdue the independent status that the island previously enjoyed. Mark Simon, a close aide, has told AFP that other members of the media group have also been arrested. He wrote on Twitter that officers were also issuing warrants for Lai’s mansion and his son’s house.
“I’m prepared for prison . . . If it comes, I will have the opportunity to read books I haven’t read. The only thing I can do is to be positive,” Lai said adding that the law in question will “supersede or destroy [our] rule of law”. International organization Amnesty released a statement urging the authorities to drop all charges against the media-house immediately and cease the harassment of journalists.
Amnesty’s spokesperson Nicholas Bequelin further remarked, “Penalizing a media outlet, publisher or journalist solely for being critical of the government or its policies it promotes is a restriction to the right to freedom of expression that can never be justified.”
The last governor of Hong Kong prior to the handover to Beijing in 1997, Chris Patton condemned the move as a major attack on the island’s freedom and way of life. “This is the most outrageous assault yet on what is left of Hong Kong’s free press… The arrests will be regarded by a growing number of people as another large step towards turning it into a replica of Beijing’s police state,” he further remarked.
Jimmy Lai was already under prosecution for participating in last year’s protests against the ‘Extradition law’ and also for attending a Tiananmen vigil for commemorating the 1989 crackdown after the police issued a ban on such gatherings. Hong Kong police confirmed that seven people between 39 and 72 years old had been arrested on suspicion of violating the new security law.
