Jimmy Lai, the founder of Hong Kong’s defunct Apple Daily newspapers, stands accused of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the national security legislation and taking part in a conspiracy to publish ‘seditious’ materials under the city’s colonial-era sedition law. Lai was first arrested on 10 August 2020, and he has been in custody for over 1,100 days after his bail was revoked in December 2020. He is now serving a five-year, nine-month sentence for fraud and other offences, and if convicted of the national security sedition charges, he will face life in jail.
Jimmy Lai’s trial, which began on 18 December 2023, at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building, is viewed as a biometer of Hong Kong’s press freedom and human rights circumstances. Around 100 people, including at least six foreign consulate representatives, attended the city’s landmark trial against press freedom, which drew extensive international media attention. Apart from Jimmy Lai, six veteran journalists of Apple Daily, including former CEO of Next Digital Cheung Kim-hung, Apple Daily’s former editor-in-chief Ryan Law, former associate publisher Chan Pui-man, former executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung, former editor-in-chief of the English news section Fung Wai-kong and former editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee were arrested in June 2021. They had all been jailed for more than 900 days since their arrests in 2021, with others having been detained for 936 days (as of 9 January). Even though they all pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit a collusion offence in November 2022, their sentences will not be handed down until the court concludes its hearing in Lai’s case. It is unknown how long all the seasoned journalists will be detained.
Aside from the Apple Daily journalists, Chung Pui-kuen, former Stand News editor-in-chief, and Patrick Lam, former acting chief editor, are accused of conspiring to publish seditious publications with the outlet’s parent company, Best Pencil Limited. They were seized in late December 2021 and detained for nearly one year and more than 10 months, respectively, before their bail applications were granted in 2022. Their case’s verdict, slated for November 15, 2023, was postponed pending the outcome of another sedition case.
In recent years, freedom of the press, the foundation of the success of any international city, has suffered an unprecedented setback in Hong Kong. Following the forced shutdown of the city’s two independent media outlets, Apple Daily and Stand News, the Hong Kong authorities have used national security law to persecute local journalists. According to the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index in 2023, Hong Kong, whose ranking had been at 18, the highest, plummeted to 140 and is classified as a ‘difficult situation’, scoring lower than Rwanda and Cambodia. Hong Kong’s ranking once fell to 148 in 2022, following the closure of Apple Daily and Stand News.
Apple Daily Trial
Cheung Kim-hung, former CEO of Next Digital and publisher of Apple Daily
- He is charged with one count of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. He was arrested on 17 June 2021 and has been detained for 936 days as of 9 January 2024.
Chan Pui-man, former Apple Daily associate publisher
- She is charged with one count of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. She was arrested on 17 June 2021 and was later released on bail. Her bail was revoked in July 2021, and she has been held for 902 days as of 9 January 2024.
Ryan Law, former Apple Daily editor-in-chief
- He is charged with one count of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. He was arrested on 17 June 2021 and has been detained for 936 days as of 9 January 2024.
Lam Man-chung, former Apple Daily executive editor-in-chief
- He is charged with one count of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. He was arrested on 21 July 2021 and has been detained for 902 days as of 9 January 2024.
Fung Wai-kong, former Apple Daily editor-in-chief of the English news section
- He is charged with one count of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. He was arrested on 27 June 2021 at Hong Kong International Airport when he intended to leave Hong Kong and was released on bail. He was arrested again on 21 July 2021 and has been detained for 902 days as of 9 January 2024.
Yeung Ching-kee, former Apple Daily editorial writer
- He is charged with one count of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. He was arrested on 23 June 2021, the same day Apple Daily was forced to close. As of 9 January 2024, he has been detained for 930 days.
Stand News Trial
Chung Pui-kuen, former Stand News editor-in-chief
- He faces one count of conspiring to publish seditious publications. He was arrested and remanded in custody on 29 December 2021. On 13 December 2022, after 349 days in jail, his bail application was granted. His case began in District Court on 31 October 2022 and is now pending a verdict.
Patrick Lam, former Stand News acting chief editor
- He is charged with one count of conspiring to publish seditious publications. He was arrested and remanded in custody on 29 December 2021. On 13 December 2022, after 313 days in jail, his bail application was granted.