China Defends Virtual Life Sentence for Anti-Communist Hero Jimmy Lai: ‘Shameless Pawn’
China defended the sentencing of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, a Christian and staunch anti-communist, to 20 years in prison.

China defended the sentencing of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, a Christian and staunch anti-communist, to 20 years in prison.

President Donald Trump said on Monday that he asked Chinese dictator Xi Jinping to free Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy Hong Kong media mogul who is awaiting sentencing after he was found guilty of “colluding with foreign forces” on Monday.

The High Court of Hong Kong found Jimmy Lai, the proprietor of the anti-communist newspaper Apple Daily and several other free journalism outlets, guilty of violating various provisions of the Chinese “national security law” imposed on the country in 2020 to crush dissent.

Reuters on Thursday cited “three people briefed on the talks and a U.S. administration official” who said President Donald Trump asked Chinese dictator Xi Jinping to release imprisoned Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai when the two leaders met in South Korea last week.

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying was upbeat and defiant at his trial in Hong Kong on Wednesday, facing down a kangaroo court appointed by the Communist-controlled puppet government to prosecute him under the fascist “national security law” imposed by Beijing.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry declared media mogul Jimmy Lai a “mastermind” of the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong on Monday, apparently ruling him guilty on the same day that his trial for alleged “sedition” began.

Lawyers for Jimmy Lai, a jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy publisher, have asked for an urgent meeting with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

2021 was the year Communist China smashed the dream of freedom and democracy in Hong Kong, with only modest opposition from the civilized world.

A Hong Kong court ordered the liquidation of Next Digital Ltd., the parent company of the recently defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, on Wednesday.

Hong Kong media company Next Digital said on Friday that it will not cease operations, contrary to a human resources email on Wednesday that said the company would shut down this week.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) warned Monday that more staffers from the now-defunct Apple Daily pro-democracy newspaper face arrest, as the Beijing-controlled city government works its way down a “list” of troublesome writers it has targeted for punishment.

Hong Kong police arrested an ex-journalist of the now-defunct Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily on Sunday as he attempted to fly out of the city, the Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reported Monday.

Chinese state media on Friday claimed the destruction of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily in Hong Kong was no different than American tech companies colluding to shut down the social media platform Parler.

The Chinese government propaganda outlet Global Times bizarrely defended the pro-communist Hong Kong government’s shutdown of the independent Apple Daily on Friday by claiming that the U.S. Constitution limited free speech in cases of “filth.”

The Communist Party of China is preparing for what state media called this Wednesday an “unprecedented” celebration of its ideology, responsible for at least 45 million deaths in China alone, in Hong Kong next week for the 100th anniversary of the Party.

Hongkongers ignored inclement weather and began lining up at one o’clock in the morning on Thursday to buy the final edition of Apple Daily, the pro-democracy newspaper crushed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with police raids and asset seizures last week.

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Apple Daily announced on Wednesday that it will cease operations at midnight and distribute its final edition on Thursday, one week after the island’s Beijing-controlled government raided the newspaper’s offices and arrested five of its executives for allegedly violating the totalitarian “national security law.”

Apple Daily insiders said Tuesday that staffers are leaving the stricken newspaper after a crackdown by Hong Kong’s Beijing-controlled government led to the jailing of its editor-in-chief and freezing of its assets.

An adviser to jailed owner Jimmy Lai warned Monday that Hong Kong’s pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily could be forced to shut down “in a matter of days” because the government froze its assets after a massive police raid last week.

Apple Daily on Friday reported eager customers lining up at midnight to buy the newspaper after five of its senior executives were arrested under Beijing’s tyrannical “national security law” and Hong Kong’s security minister warned the public to “keep a distance” from the publication.

Hundreds of Hong Kong police officers descended upon the offices of leading pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily on Thursday, arresting its editor in chief and four other senior executives on charges of violating the island’s Beijing-imposed “national security law” by “colluding” with foreign powers.

The owner of Hong Kong anti-communist newspaper Apple Daily, Jimmy Lai, is facing a minimum of a decade in prison after being charged on Friday with violating the city’s new, and illegal, law against “national security” trespasses.

An Apple store in Hong Kong reportedly refused to engrave an anti-China, pro-democracy logo on the Apple pencil of one of its customers, the Asian website Coconuts reported Thursday.

Both foreign and domestic observers questioned the health of Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday when a televised speech was interrupted by violent coughing fits and he canceled the remainder of an important tour of southern China.

Dissident Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, arrested Monday under the oppressive “national security law” imposed by Beijing, emerged from detention Wednesday undaunted but “more cautious,” to quote the advice he gave to young pro-democracy demonstrators.

The founder of Hong Kong’s most prominent anti-communist newspaper, Apple Daily’s Jimmy Lai, vowed to “fight on” after being released on bail Wednesday.

Shares of Next Digital, the media company that owns Hong Kong’s dissident newspaper Apple Daily, skyrocketed after the arrest of founder Jimmy Lai on Monday.

Hong Kong residents lined up outside of convenience stores Tuesday to buy copies of Apple Daily, the city’s most prominent anti-communist newspaper, after a mob of over 200 police officers stormed its headquarters and arrested owner Jimmy Lai on charges of endangering national security.

Vice President Mike Pence came out in defense of Hong Kong media tycoon and Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai after he was arrested.

Nearly 200 police officers swarmed the offices of Apple Daily, one of Hong Kong’s most-read anti-communist newspapers, on Monday, arresting owner Jimmy Lai, two of his sons, and several other staffers.

The last British governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, called the raid of the pro-democracy paper Apple Daily and the arrest of the paper’s founder Jimmy Lai the “most outrageous assault yet” on freedom of the press in the former Crown colony.

Hong Kong police officers allegedly assaulted an autistic pro-democracy protestor last Friday, violently shoving him to the ground and using pepper spray to incapacitate him, Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily reported on Thursday.

Hong Kong police arrested the owner of anti-communist newspaper Apple Daily, Jimmy Lai, along with pro-democracy Labour Party vice-chair Lee Cheuk-yan and former lawmaker Yeung Sum, on Friday morning for participating in protests in August.

Four unidentified arsonists targeted the printing warehouse of the Epoch Times, a global newspaper that has consistently challenged the Chinese Communist Party, on Tuesday morning, setting fire to the warehouse just as staffers prepared to distribute the Tuesday edition of the newspaper.

Two unidentified men wearing masks hurled Molotov cocktails into the home of Jimmy Lai, owner of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily, early Thursday morning.
