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Jimmy Lai was never abducted, editor says

"Mr Lai thinks that the rumor is ridiculous. He departed for Hong Kong last Friday and was back in Taiwan on Monday. He has worked every day as usual."

Pei Wei, executive editor of `Next' magazine

The executive editor of Next magazine (壹周刊), Pei Wei (裴偉), yesterday broke his silence to deny reports about the alleged abduction of the magazine's owner, Jimmy Lai (黎智英), and stressed that the magazine will retain its paparazzi style.

The story was first published by another weekly magazine, Emagazine on July 9th. The magazine published a photograph of Lai on its cover with the headline: "Exclusive inside story: a commentary on how Taiwanese gangsters stalk and threaten the owner of Hong Kong's Next Media."

Hong Kong media started to investigate the story concerning Lai after the article appeared and published reports yesterday saying that Taiwanese gangsters had kidnapped him and held him for two days last week.

Speaking to Taiwanese reporters yesterday, Pei denied the "rumor."

"Mr Lai thinks that the rumor is ridiculous. He departed for Hong Kong last Friday and was back in Taiwan on Monday. He has worked every day as usual. I don't know where rumors about his kidnapping have come from," Pei told reporters from Chinese-language media.

Pei also said that Lai had "not requested special protection against any possible threat", even though the "rumor" had been circulating.

The Hong Kong newspaper, Oriental Daily News, said in its report that an unidentified group had kidnapped Lai. It said the group contacted Lai's wife and demanded NT$4 million.

Taiwanese police, however, denied the story.

According to Taiwan's Emagazine, friends and neighbors of Lai told the magazine -- under the condition of anonymity -- that Lai had received a threatening letter and that a dead dog had been placed in front of Lai's house in Yanmingshan with a page from an issue of Next magazine containing the names of Next employees. Emagazine's article implied that the threats were related to Next magazine's paparazzi style.

The article also mentioned the anger of celebrities who were covered by Next magazine but it did not name specific individuals. The article also alleges that they had hired gangsters to take action to protect their privacy. It went on to quote a high-level official of the Democratic Progressive Party who, it said, wished to remain anonymous. The official allegedly said that the first lady had been deeply upset by the magazine's coverage of her daughter and its journalists' attempt to masquerade as photographer's assistants in a bid to enter the presidential residence.

The first issue of Next magazine was published at the end of May. The owner, Jimmy Lai, promised to reveal the private lives of Taiwan's public officials and celebrities to Taiwanese readers. The debut edition covered the jilted lover of the first daughter's fiance and was sold out within hours of hitting newsstands. Each issue of the magazine's emergence has attracted coverage from most of Taiwan's media and prompted discussion in academic circles about the paparazzi-style media culture it has brought to Taiwan.
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