Hong Kong media owner Jimmy Lai sentenced to 14 months in prison over 2019 protests
Washington, D.C., April 16, 2021 – In response to a Hong Kong court’s sentencing today of media owner Jimmy Lai to 14 months in prison, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement: “Forcing a prominent pro-democracy media entrepreneur like Jimmy Lai to spend more than a year in prison and hitting him with…
Hong Kong police charge Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai with ‘foreign collusion’ under national security law
Taipei, December 11, 2020 – The Hong Kong police force today charged media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, founder of Next Digital Limited, which owns the Apple Daily newspaper, with collusion with foreign forces under Hong Kong’s new national security law, a charge that carries up to life in prison if convicted, according to the Apple Daily…
Hong Kong court denies bail to Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai in fraud case
Taipei, December 3, 2020 – Magistrate Victor So Wai Tak of the West Kowloon Courts in Hong Kong today denied bail to media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai on a charge of fraud, according to news reports. He is expected to remain in jail until a court hearing on April 16, 2021, according to the reports. Lai and senior…
Hong Kong journalists struggle to carry on as national security law hits Apple Daily
An unnerving wait for the first impact on journalists of Hong Kong’s new National Security Law came to an abrupt end early yesterday when police arrested Next Digital founder and chair Jimmy Lai, along with four company executives and his two sons, while sending more than a hundred police officers on a raid of Apple…
Hong Kong police arrest Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai under new National Security Law
Washington, D.C., August 9, 2020–Jimmy Lai, founder of Next Digital, which owns the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, was arrested early Monday in Hong Kong under Hong Kong’s new National Security Law for alleged collusion with foreign powers, according to a tweet by Next Digital executive Mark Simon and news reports. “The arrest of media tycoon…
Hong Kong police arrest Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai
Taipei, April 18, 2020–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Hong Kong authorities to drop all charges against Jimmy Lai, founder and chair of Next Digital, following his arrest this afternoon alongside other pro-democracy advocates on suspicion of participating in an illegal assembly. Lai’s media properties, including the Apple Daily, have actively and sympathetically covered…
For clues to censorship in Hong Kong, look to Singapore, not Beijing
When journalists covering pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong on September 28, 2014, got word that protesters were having problems with cell phone service, it appeared to be a familiar response from governments across the world to dissent.
Journalists in Hong Kong and Taiwan Battle Beijing’s Influence
Media owners’ reluctance to draw China’s disfavor imperils the ability of the Hong Kong and Taiwanese press to play a watchdog role. By a CPJ Contributor Popular protests like this one in Taipei on January 1, 2013, helped derail a plan for a wealthy business tycoon with interests in China to buy Taiwan’s largest newspaper.…
Attacks on Hong Kong news outlets must be prosecuted
Hong Kong, July 3, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Hong Kong authorities to expedite investigations into recent attacks against news outlets known for being critical of China. In the most recent attack targeting Next Media Limited on June 30, three masked men threatened distribution workers with knives, then burned 26,000 copies of the…