Most 72-year-olds would be enjoying a peaceful retired life, but Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai is not in that category. Amid the recent grave crisis of the looming national security law, Lai is fighting prosecution charges and is even being tailed by mysterious, seemingly organized agents. But he has vowed not to give up and promised to persevere until the end.

“Maybe I will land in jail; that would be a huge change,” Lai said earlier this month in an interview with Apple Daily, the newspaper he founded 25 years ago riding on the glorious days of press freedom in Hong Kong.

“Or maybe I will end up with a much worse fate than imprisonment, and that would be a change I cannot foresee. Regardless, come what may, I will face what I need to face head on, fearlessly.”

On Thursday, the outspoken and politically active media mogul failed to receive court permission to leave Hong Kong for family and business reasons, as six charges including criminal intimidation overshadowed his plans.

The latest court case does not faze Lai, as one so accustomed to fending off legal challenges. In particular, his endeavour to take a robust role in Hong Kong’s social movement and defend his home city’s freedom and democracy has placed him firmly in the cross hairs of the police time and again.

He has been charged together with organizers of the annual Tiananmen Square vigil for “inciting others to participate in unlawful assembly” at Victoria Park on June 4, amid a ban on the event due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Prior to this case, he had been arrested twice this year — in February, police took him away for alleged participation in an illegal assembly during pro-democracy protests last year sparked by a now-withdrawn extradition bill. That arrest was also related to one count of intimidating a reporter in 2017.

Then in April, he was detained again, alongside 14 other prominent pro-democracy figures for allegedly “organizing and participating in unlawful assembly.”

In his latest brush with the law, Lai, who is on bail, had applied for the travel ban to be temporarily lifted so he could visit the United States to see his daughter, newborn grandson and other relatives.

He had also intended to discuss his hotel business, including the potential acquisition of a Little Washington hotel, and to meet staff from his hotels in Buffalo City, Canada. Talks with an Apple Daily service provider and promotions of the newly launched English edition of the newspaper were also on the proposed itinerary.

The High Court rejected Lai’s application to leave Hong Kong between June 24 and July 19. He is required to remain in the city until his trial in August.

Mr Justice Alex Lee said in his judgment that there was “no urgency” to take the trip when many meetings could be done on the internet and Lai’s subordinates could handle his business affairs.
The judge was concerned about the risk of Lai not returning to stand trial. “This court is also entitled to take into account the fact that the applicant is now facing and is going to face a number of trials at different levels of court,” the judgment read.

Lee also considered the risk that Lai might contract the coronavirus in the U.S., which “is now the country with the highest number of confirmed cases of the pandemic.” The judge noted that Lai belonged to the age group most vulnerable to the virus and if he was infected, it would derail the trial.

The travel ban, imposed in addition to strangers following Lai in a seemingly organized operation for two days in a row, did not dampen his spirits during celebrations of Apple Daily’s 25th anniversary at the newspaper’s headquarters in Tseung Kwan O on Thursday evening. He thanked his staff for their dedication.

“Working at Apple Daily is not a pleasant job ... You might even have problems going to Macau or the mainland,” Lai said at the event. The fact that the newspaper survived to this day was testimony to the staff’s commitment, he said.

Lai has also declared he owed his success to the city. He once said he had no plans to leave Hong Kong. “I must stay till the end,” he said.

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Happy 25, Apple Daily! Boss Jimmy Lai vows to fight till the end for 'crisis-stricken' Hong Kong
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