Jimmy Lai, founder of Apple Daily, has been convicted on three counts, including collusion with foreign forces. This is not merely a case under the National Security Law. It is a decisive blow against independent journalism in Hong Kong.
From Lai’s arrest to the forced closure of Apple Daily, Hong Kong has lost more than a newspaper. It has lost a critical space where power can be questioned and where truth can be reported without fear. Today’s verdict highlights a stark reality. This regime cannot tolerate scrutiny, dissent, or the truth.
The so-called “national security” is being used to silence the press.
The so-called “rule of law” is being twisted into a mechanism for suppressing dissent.
The same logic has previously been applied to dismiss setting a statutory commission of inquiry into the deadly Tai Po blaze, undermine independent trade unions, erase the memory of June 4th, dismantle the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, and imprison Lee Cheuk Yan and Chow Hang Tung. Now it has been applied to Jimmy Lai and journalists committed to independent reporting.
This is not the rule of law in action. It is the suppression of truth and dissent under the guise of legality. We condemn this verdict. The Hong Kong authorities have criminalised press freedom itself, inflicting irreparable harm on both the right to report and the public’s right to know.
A society that forbids questioning will inevitably lose the ability to discern right from wrong. A city without press freedom only allows power to operate unchecked.
Today, it is not only Jimmy Lai who has been silenced. It is the last line of defence for Hong Kongers who refuse to let lies become reality.