Jimmy Lai’s bail hearing set for next week, as Apple Daily readers continue to voice support
A Hong Kong court will hear a bail application by Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai during a hearing next week into the fraud and national security cases against him.
The High Court has scheduled consideration of Lai’s bail application for a hearing set for next Wednesday morning, according to the judiciary’s website.
Lai, who remains in custody after being denied bail by Chief Magistrate So Wai-tak last Saturday, had postponed his bail application from Tuesday to a later date, Apple Daily has learned.
The 73-year-old is facing one charge of colluding with foreign countries to endanger China’s national security, a new offence created under the national security law imposed by Beijing in June. He is accused of asking foreign countries to sanction the governments of Hong Kong and mainland China.
The allegations against Lai include actions he made before the national security law was adopted. These include Lai’s setting up a Twitter account to follow U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, and the launch of Apple Daily’s English edition.
Lai is also facing a separate charge of fraud over allegations that he failed to disclose the usage of his office in Tseung Kwan O industrial zone. Both cases have been set for a hearing by So on April 16.
Through his son Ian, Jimmy Lai on Monday repeated his thanks to Hongkongers for their support. Ian and his wife, Carman Tsang, took an Oxford dictionary, some biscuits and peanuts to the elder Lai in Lai Chi Kok detention center during a visit on Monday morning.
Ian said his father remains calm, and has been reading English-language books about the Soviet Union autocracy and the Bible.
Two former Democratic Party leaders, Martin Lee and Albert Ho, said after a visit to Lai on Monday afternoon that the pro-democracy entrepreneur was coping well with his situation.
Meanwhile, Apple Daily’s readers continue to send in letters to Jimmy Lai. In a four-page handwritten letter, one reader praised Lai for his fortitude in the face of all-out attacks by the Chinese Communist Party. “He never flatters the communists. He chooses to speak out loudly for a falling Hong Kong and to defend free speech,” the reader said.
Another reader recalled the scene when Jimmy Lai appeared on a television advertisement in the 1990s, with his signature big belly, to promote his newly founded Apple Daily. “The fearless emotions on your face have not changed” and deserve respect, the reader said, describing Lai’s arrest as political persecution.
Another Apple Daily reader, from the Canadian city of Edmonton, sent his respects to Lai and hoped that he would be freed as early as possible.
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