He was in police custody for more than 40 hours. But the well-known Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai does not want to be stopped by this.
Hong Kong (AP) - The Hong Kong media entrepreneur and well-known activist Jimmy Lai has announced that he will continue his work after his release from police custody.
The media in Hong Kong are having an increasingly difficult time, "but we should get on with our work," Lai told Apple Daily employees who hailed his return. After more than 40 hours in police custody, Lai was released on bail on Wednesday night. Several other activists were also released on bail.
Lai, who also owns the pro-democracy newspaper "Apple Daily", was arrested along with fellow activists on Monday during a large police operation. The 71-year-old was charged with collusion with forces abroad, fraud and other violations. In the past year, Lai had called several times to take part in protest marches against Beijing. Hundreds of thousands of people were on the streets.
The arrests were the biggest blow to the democracy movement since China introduced a controversial security law in late June. Beijing has come under massive criticism for its policies in the city of 7.5 million. In protest against the arrests, "Apple Daily" was bought en masse by Hong Kongers on Tuesday.
The law targets activities that the communist leadership in Beijing sees as subversive, separatist, or terrorist. Since the return of the former British crown colony to China in 1997, Hong Kong has been governed autonomously with its own civil liberties. From the point of view of critics, the law now means the end of the "one country, two systems" principle that has been pursued since then.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 200812-99-137231 / 3
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/3I74UEXLYRBBRPGPSGWNN6WXH4.jpg)
