Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英) yesterday was ordered back to jail as the territory’s highest court granted prosecutors an appeal against his bail.
Lai, a vocal Beijing critic, is one of the highest-profile figures charged under a new National Security Law that China imposed on Hong Kong in late June last year in a bid to stamp out dissent.
The 73-year-old served 20 days in custody before being granted bail on Wednesday last week on stringent conditions, including a HK$10 million (US$1.3 million) bond and a surrender of all travel documents.
Photo: Reuters
He was placed under house arrest and banned from speaking publicly, including on social media, but the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal granted the prosecution leave to appeal the bail decision, after they said a lower court judge might “have erred in his construction or application” of Article 42 of the new legislation.
That article states that bail should not be granted unless the judge sees sufficient grounds to believe the defendant would not commit the alleged offense again.
“We have held that it is reasonably arguable that the Judge’s decision was erroneous and that his order admitting the respondent to bail was invalid,” a determination handed down by the appeal committee of the Court of Final Appeal read.
It also granted the prosecution’s application for Lai to be held in custody pending the appeal, to be heard on Feb. 1.
Lai is accused of colluding with foreign nations by calling on overseas governments to sanction Hong Kong and China in response to a crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in the territory.
More than 1,000 of his posts on Twitter and a number of interviews with the media he gave have been examined by the prosecution.
Lai was the first defendant charged under the new legislation to be granted bail, but prosecutors rushed to apply for an appeal.
Prosecutor Anthony Chau (周天行) argued that bail should not be considered in national security cases, and likened the seriousness of national security offenses to murder and treason.
“Normally in this kind of grave offense, the court cannot grant bail,” Chau said in court.
China’s People’s Daily had criticized the bail decision and threatened that Lai could be extradited to the mainland for trial.
Lai also faces separate charges of fraud and joining unlawful assemblies during the massive, often violent, protests of 2019.
Lai on Tuesday resigned as chairman and executive director of Next Digital Ltd (壹傳媒), which owns the Apple Daily newspaper he founded three decades ago.
Lai tendered his resignation “to spend more time dealing with his personal affairs,” Bloomberg News reported, citing a statement from the media group.
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