The rise and fall of HK’s Apple Daily and media magnate Jimmy Lai

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HONG KONG — Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Day by day might be compelled to close “in a matter of days” after authorities froze the corporate’s belongings beneath a nationwide safety legislation, an adviser to jailed proprietor Jimmy Lai informed Reuters on Monday.

Following is a timeline of occasions main as much as this.

June 20 1995 – Apple Day by day publishes its first version. Based by businessman Jimmy Lai. The tabloid day by day, with its crucial reporting on China, is a runaway industrial success.

“So long as readers select us, assist our journalism, and agree with our place, irrespective of how sturdy the stress turns into, we can stand tall,” the newspaper stated in an editorial that day.

In 1994 Lai had known as Chinese language premier Li Peng the “son of a turtle egg” in a weekly journal that he launched earlier than the day by day. The insult rankled Beijing.

July 8, 2019 – Jimmy Lai meets U.S. vice chairman Mike Pence and Safety of State Mike Pompeo in Washington to debate the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy over a contentious extradition invoice that has sparked mass protests.

The China state-owned International Occasions calls Lai a “traitor” for “brazen collusion” with the West to gas the Hong Kong protests.

June 30, 2020 – China immediately imposes nationwide safety legislation on Hong Kong with out public session or metropolis legislative involvement. The legislation units out punishment for something China considers subversion, secession, terrorism or collusion with overseas forces, of as much as life in jail.

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Aug 10 – Hong Kong police arrest Lai, some of the outspoken critics of Beijing, and eight others in a city-wide operation. A whole lot of police raid Lai’s Subsequent Digital headquarters, the place his flagship Apple Day by day is produced and printed. He’s launched on bail.

Dec 3 – Lai is taken into custody and charged with fraud associated to the lease of a constructing that homes Apple Day by day.

Dec 11 – Lai charged beneath the safety legislation on suspicion of colluding with overseas forces and endangering nationwide safety – partly from having sought sanctions towards Hong Kong.

Dec 23 – Lai granted bail and is ready to spend Christmas at residence.

Dec 29 – Lai resigns as chairman of Subsequent Digital.

Dec 31 – Lai is taken again into custody after the next court docket overruled the bail choice following a wave of criticism by pro-Beijing voices who say he’s a flight threat.

Feb 8, 2021 – Lai’s authorized battle for bail reaches Hong Kong’s Courtroom of Last Enchantment. A panel of 5 judges unanimously denied him bail saying the decrease court docket utilized an “misguided line of reasoning.”

April 12 – “Defending freedom of speech is a harmful job. It’s our duty as journalists to hunt justice,” Lai writes from jail.

April 16 – Hong Kong police chief Chris Tang warns an unspecified newspaper for dividing society. He says “pretend information” might be linked to nationwide safety and police could launch investigations into those that breach nationwide safety legal guidelines.

April 16 – On the identical day, Lai is jailed for 14 months for participating in unauthorized assemblies throughout protests in August 2019.

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Could 11 – Apple Day by day’s chief editor Ryan Regulation and its CEO reassure employees over rumors Hong Kong authorities would shut the newspaper earlier than July 1 – the centenary of the founding of the Chinese language Communist Occasion.

Could 14 – Hong Kong authorities freeze belongings belonging to Lai, together with all shares in Subsequent Digital – the primary time a listed agency has been focused by nationwide safety legal guidelines within the monetary hub. Lai now faces three costs beneath the safety legislation together with collusion with a overseas nation.

Could 27 – Reuters stories that Hong Kong’s safety chief despatched letters to Lai and branches of HSBC and Citibank in Could, threatening jail of as much as seven years for any coping with the Lai’s accounts within the metropolis.

Could 29 – Lai receives a 14-month jail sentence over an unauthorized meeting in October 2019.

June 17 – Police arrest 5 executives of Apple Day by day, together with chief editor Ryan Regulation and CEO Cheung Kim-hung. A whole lot of officers raid Subsequent Media’s headquarters and search its newsroom, seizing computer systems. Regulation and Cheung are charged with “colluding with a overseas nation or with exterior parts to hazard nationwide safety.” Authorities freeze HK$18 million ($2.3 million) of Apple’s belongings.

June 19 – Regulation and Cheung are denied bail by Decide Victor So.

June 20 – Apple Day by day marks its twenty sixth anniversary. The paper says it has money left for “just a few weeks” of regular operations and it could battle to pay employees.

June 21 – An adviser to Lai tells Reuters the might be compelled to close “in a matter of days.” (Further reporting by Jessie Pang and Sarah Cheng Enhancing by Robert Birsel)