raid Some 500 policemen raided the offices of pro-democracy paper Apple Daily in the metropolis, alleging its reports breached a national security law. Police also arrested the editor-in-chief and 4 other executives at their homes. It also froze HK$18m ($2.3m; £1.64m) of assets owned by three companies linked to Apple Daily. The paper is owned by Jimmy Lai, who is in jail on a string of charges. Apple Daily is thought to be critical of mainland Chinese leadership. In a press briefing, police said that since 2019, Apple Daily had published quite 30 articles calling on countries to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China. It added that the assets of Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited, and AD internet Limited had been frozen. Dozens of prominent activists are arrested since the national security law was introduced last year. Police entered the Apple Daily office premises at around 07:30 standard time on Thursday (23:30 GMT Wednesday) and blocked off all entrances and exits, The paper broadcasted live footage of the raid on its Facebook account. Police said during a statement that they conducted a groundwork operation at a media company, adding that their warrant “covered the ability of searching and seizure of journalistic materials”. Photos published online by Apple Daily showed police longing reporters’ computers. The police separately visited the homes of editor-in-chief Ryan Law, parent company Next Digital’s CEO Cheung Kim-hung, COO Chow Tat-Kuen, Apple Daily publisher Chan Pui-man, and Director Cheung Chi-wai, and arrested them. Police didn’t name those arrested but confirmed that the five people, aged between 47 and 63, were arrested for “collusion with a far off country or with external elements to endanger national security”. Apple Daily: The Hong Kong paper that pushed the boundary This is the second raid to require a place in Apple Daily in under a year – a raid last August saw 10 people arrested including Lai and his sons. How significant is this? According to the BBC’s Danny Vincent, this incident marks the primary time Hong Kong journalists are arrested under suspicion of violating the national security law. In a group discussion on Thursday, urban center security chief John Lee said Apple Daily’s actions “targeted the utilization of journalistic work as a tool to endanger national security”. Mr. Lee also added that they weren’t “normal journalists”, calling on others to “keep a distance from them”. Some reporters from the paper told the BBC they planned to continue printing, but they now fear that today’s events – both the arrests and also the freezing of assets – may mark the start of the top for Apple Daily. Who is Jimmy Lai? Lai is one of the foremost prominent supporters of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. Estimated to be worth quite $1bn (£766m), he made his initial fortune within the clothing industry and later ventured into media and founded Next Digital. In his last interview with the BBC before he was sentenced to jail, he said he wouldn’t give up on intimidation. “If they will induce fear in you, that is the cheapest thanks to controlling you and also the simplest way and that they understand it. the sole thanks to defeating the way of intimidation are to approach to fear and do not let it frighten you,” he said. He is currently facing time in jail for a series of charges, including participating in an unauthorized assembly in 2019. What is the national security law? The law was introduced in 2020 in response to massive pro-democracy protests that swept the town state the previous year. It essentially reduced Hong Kong’s judicial autonomy and made it easier to punish demonstrators. It criminalizes secession, subversion, and collusion with foreign forces with the most sentence life in prison. Beijing said the law would target “sedition” and produce stability, but critics have said it violates the agreement under which Britain handed backport to China in 1997. The handover agreement saw the creation of the fundamental Law under the “one country, two systems” principle. This is imagined to protect certain freedoms for Hong Kong: freedom of assembly and speech, an independent judiciary, and a few democratic rights – freedoms that no other part of mainland China has. Fears that this model was being eroded were what led to the large pro-democracy protests in 2019. Since the law was enacted in June, quite 100 people are arrested under its provisions, including Lai.
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