Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai wins one in court, as Hong Kong prosecutor’s appeal is denied
Pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai wins one in court, as Hong Kong prosecutor’s appeal is denied
Nov 18, 2024 3:25 PM

In 2020, entrepreneur and Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai beat back an attempt to prosecute him for “intimidating” a pro-Beijing reporter during a Tiananmen Square Massacre vigil. The prosecution appealed, and has now lost, even as Lai remains in prison convicted on other charges.

Read More…

Hong Kong prosecutors lost their appeal against a magistrate’s decision in September 2020 that cleared charges against media tycoon Jimmy Lai on “intimidating a reporter from a rival newspaper,” according to the South China Morning Post.

Lai, outspoken founder of prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, faced trial last year on one count of intimidating and threatening a photojournalist from the pro-Beijing Oriental Daily News. The court acquitted Lai on Sept. 3, 2020, ruling that the prosecutors had failed to prove Lai’s intent to physically harm the reporter.

The clash between Lai and the reporter, named “X” during the appeal, took place in 2017 during an annual Victoria Park vigil marking the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, a peaceful pro-democracy protest that turned horrific after Chinese troops opened fire on unarmed student protesters. This month, because of his participation in the vigil in 2019, Lai was handed a conviction and a 14-month prison sentence.

During the 2020 trial, X testified that he felt threatened by Lai when the entrepreneur said he would “mess with him” after X photographed Lai at the vigil, according to the BBC. Lai defended ment in court, saying he had lashed out in a spur of the moment and that X had been following and photographing him for years.

The investigation of the incident had been halted in 2018, but in February 2019, Lai was arrested and charged on criminal intimidation along with the unauthorized assembly charges.

The presiding magistrate of the 2020 trial, May Chung Ming-sun, ruled in favor of Lai, arguing that he had undoubtedly reacted poorly but agreeing with the defense that Lai had used a Chinese expression that could be taken in multiple ways without necessarily meaning an explicit intent to harm someone.

The prosecution against Lai appealed on the grounds that Chung had erred in her ruling, saying she “misdirected herself, misunderstood the facts and took into account irrelevant considerations.”

But on appeal, Justice Andrew Chan Hing-wai of the high court maintained the 2020 ruling. Chan acknowledged that a successful man like Lai, with “ample resources,” should be able to recognize when he had made a serious threat, but upheld the previous magistrate’s ruling that the expression carries with it various meanings and does not necessarily mean Lai meant to personally harm the reporter.

The prosecutor’s appeal, therefore, was flawed and “could not be supported,” according to Chan.

“Since the magistrate was not satisfied that the utterance made by [Lai] was the cause of the reporter’s [mental stress], that finding … marks the end of the prosecution case,” Chan said.

Lai, the 73-year-old pro-democracy entrepreneur and activist, is currently serving a 20-month prison sentence for his participation in four unauthorized assemblies during Hong Kong’s 2019 anti-government protests, as well as collusion charges, under the city’s repressive National Security Law (NSL).

The Beijing-imposed NSL, passed in June 2020, cracks down on political dissent, hindering freedoms of speech, assembly, and association. More than 150 Hong Kong citizens have been arrested since the law’s implementation, inducing widespread fear and stifling human rights. Lai and a few others have sacrificed their lives for a reemergence of democratic ideals in Hong Kong, a city that used to be a safe haven for such ideals, but now is ruled by an increasingly authoritarian government, which is declining further into a Beijing-like dictatorship.

The Hong Konger, the Acton Institute’s documentary on the life of Lai, tells the story of his ongoing struggle against the growing power of the Hong Kong government. It is set to be released in early 2022.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Acton Commentary: Challenging Liberals on Economic Immobility
In today’s Acton Commentary (published August 1) Samuel Gregg writes that “one shouldn’t forget just how central the endless pursuit of ever-greater economic equality is to the modern Left’s very identity. In fact, without it, the modern Left would have little to its agenda other than the promotion of lifestyle libertarianism and other socially destructive ends.”The full text of his essay follows. Subscribe to the free, weekly Acton News & Commentary and other publicationshere. Challenging Liberals on Economic Immobility bySamuel...
The Nanny State Wants You To Breastfeed
Mayor Mike Bloomberg is beginning to take his self-appointed role as Nanny-in-Chief of New York a bit too literally: Mayor Bloomberg is pushing hospitals to hide their baby formula behind locked doors so more new mothers will breast-feed. Starting Sept. 3, the city will keep tabs on the number of bottles that participating hospitals stock and use — the most restrictive pro-breast-milk program in the nation. Under the city Health Department’s voluntary Latch On NYC initiative, 27 of the city’s...
Samuel Gregg: The Profoundly anti-Keynesian Political Economy of Wilhelm Röpke
Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg is featured on the July 29 episode of Liberty Law Talk. The conversation, which focuses on the too-often forgotten free-market economics of Wilhelm Röpke, can be downloaded online at the Library of Law and Liberty website. Gregg has written extensively on Röpke in the past and the conversation meets expectations as enlightening and thought-provoking. Be sure to check it out. ...
Why Robert Sirico Moved to the Right—and Jane Fonda Didn’t
RealClearReligion’s Nicholas G. Hahn III recently talked to Acton President Fr. Robert Sirico about Obama, Marx, and Jane Fonda: RCR: Why didn’t Jane Fonda and others in your generation follow you to the Right? Robert Sirico: There are a lot of them that are not Leftist anymore. I know a lot of people in my generation who were at those things and are much more conservative today — not quite philosophically, but certainly wouldn’t identify with the Left. Now, why...
My Mind in God’s Hands
“The darkening of sin obstructs the acquisition not of the knowledge of the details but knowledge in its more exalted and nobler sense.” (Abraham Kuyper, Wisdom & Wonder Pg. 56) Each of us is detail-oriented in our own way. Some remember dates and numbers with amazing accuracy. Others remember relational information from conversations they had two weeks ago. Still others have a knack for remembering trivia of all sorts. But sadly much of our memory focuses on things that are...
Chick-fil-A and Free Exchange
Former governor, pastor, and presidential candidate (and current radio host) Mike Huckabee has been a primary driving force in turning today, August 1, into an ad hoc appreciation day for the fast pany Chick-fil-A. Huckabee’s activism in support of the “Eat Mor Chikin” establishments was occasioned by criticism leveled against pany’s support for traditional “family values,” including promotion of traditional marriage. Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy said, “We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the...
Education and Consumerism: Confessions of a Slacker
The lowering of education quality has been noted in the recent past on the PowerBlog (here and here). Last Saturday, Casey Harper noted at educationviews.org that even students plaining about the declining rigor of American education. Harper notes that, according to a recent survey, More than half of eighth-grade history and civics students say their work is “often or always too easy,” according to the report. Twelfth-grade students sang the same tune, with 56 and 55 percent, respectively, saying their...
Two Steps Forward for GR Public…. One Step Back for MI?
In yesterday’s Grand Rapids Press (and appearing at on Monday), Monica Scott reports on the tenure reform bill signed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder last year and set to take effect in the 2013-2014 school year: Last year, Gov. Rick Snyder signed a tenure reform bill pletely overhauled teacher performance evaluations, tying teachers’ grades to student achievement. But teachers and union leaders locally and across the state have said they think it’s unfair to be held accountable for the performance...
Understanding the Higher Ed Bubble
In addition to my post yesterday and other education related posts on the Powerblog (here, here, here, here, and here), I highly mend this analysis of the higher ed bubble from educationviews.org if anyone is interested in learning more. I would emphasize that this is not simply an economic problem but a moral one. We cannot in good conscience continue to promote higher education to our youth while its quality continues to diminish and its price continues to rise. To...
Murray, Mariana, and Montaigne’s Fallacy
The folks over at the Comment magazine site have generously run an essay by me, “Business and the Development of Christian Social Thought.” This piece is a web-friendly version of my editorial from the current issue of the Journal of Markets & Morality, which highlights the call for papers for next spring’s issue on the theme “Integral Human Development.” If you have an interest in this theme as it appears particularly in the Roman Catholic social encyclical tradition, or analogous...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2024 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved