Closing arguments ended Thursday in the national security trial of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, although judges did not say when they would render a verdict.
Judge Esther Toh, a member of the three-judge panel overseeing the case, said the court will release more details “in good time.”
The 77-year-old founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper faces life in prison if convicted of illegal foreign collusion under Hong Kong’s restrictive National Security Law, which was imposed by Beijing in 2020 after the massive pro-democracy protests of 2019.
A police officer stands outside the West Kowloon court where jailed Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai’s national security trial is taking place in Hong Kong on Aug. 28, 2025.(Vernon Yuen/AFP)
Lai, who has denied the charges, has spent more than four years in prison. He appeared in court in a white shirt and tan jacket, where he smiled and waved to supporters, according to an Agence France-Presse report.
At the trial, prosecutors said he masterminded conspiracies involving Apple Daily executives and a web of foreign connections to request foreign actions against China and Hong Kong around the time of the 2019 protests.
Defense lawyers said that Lai ended those activities before the national security law took effect in June 2020.
Closing arguments in the trial were delayed twice this month: once due to weather, and once out of concern for Lai’s health. Earlier this year, Lai’s son warned that his father’s health was declining due to his imprisonment, much of that time spent in solitary confinement. Press freedom and human rights organizations have also cited Lai’s health in calls to release him.
Includes reporting from Agence France-Presse.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.
Two Hong Kong pro-democracy advocates have announced that they have been granted asylum: former lawmaker Ted Hui in Australia and activist Tony Chung in the U.K.
Both men were convicted of violating Hong Kong’s restrictive national security law, which has quashed dissent after being imposed by Beijing in 2020 in the wake of massive pro-democracy protests. They are among dozens of activists who have fled Hong Kong authorities.
Hui, a former member of the Legislative Council who left Hong Kong while he was out on bail in 2020, was tried in absentia and given a nearly four-year jail term in 2022. He told RFA at the time that his trial was “a political trial, which was entirely predictable and unsurprising. The real culprits are the tyrannical regime, not those who protest against it.”
In this May 28, 2020, file photo Pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui, center, struggles with security personnel at the main chamber of the Legislative Council during the second day of debate on a bill that would criminalize insulting or abusing the Chinese anthem in Hong Kong.(AP)
Chung, who as a teenage secondary school student convened a group that advocated for Hong Kong’s independence from China, was also sentenced to a nearly four-year term. He was released early for good behavior.
In an interview with RFA after he fled to Britain in 2023, Chung said that after his release, national security police tried to hire him as an informant, and would seek him out for a meeting every two to four weeks, driving him in an SUV with drawn curtains to be interrogated in an unknown location.
“They wanted me to confess, and prove to them that I had nothing to hide and that I wasn’t engaging in any further secessionist activities,” he said.
Hong Kong activist Tony Chung takes part in a protest, against Hong Kong’s new national security law, the Basic Law Article 23, recently approved by Hong Kong lawmakers, in London, March 23, 2024.(Kin Cheung/AP)
Hong Kong’s government did not comment directly on the cases, but a spokesperson said Saturday that “any country that harbors Hong Kong criminals in any form shows contempt for the rule of law, grossly disrespects Hong Kong’s legal systems and barbarically interferes in the affairs of Hong Kong.”
Includes reporting from Agence France-Presse.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.
Closing arguments began Monday in the trial of Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy media chief who founded the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper in Hong Kong.
The 77-year-old Lai is charged with illegal foreign collusion and conspiring with others to issue seditious publications under Hong Kong’s restrictive National Security Law, which was imposed by Beijing in 2020. He could face life in prison if convicted. Lai has denied the charges.
Members of the Police Counter Terrorism Response Unit stand guard as they escort a prison van believed to be carrying Jimmy Lai to the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts building in Hong Kong, Aug. 18, 2025.(Tyrone Siu/Reuters)
Prosecutors on Monday said that Lai had “unwavering intent to solicit sanctions, blockades, or other hostile activities” against Hong Kong and China from foreign governments, a violation of the National Security Law. Prosecutor Anthony Chau referenced Lai’s travel to the United States around the time of the Hong Kong protests in 2019, including a trip in July of that year when he met with Mike Pence, then the U.S. vice president.
In testimony last year, Lai denied asking anything specific of Pence. He said he also met with then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, asking Pompeo for the U.S. “not to do something, but to say something. To voice out its support for Hong Kong.”
He also said he would not have encouraged foreign sanctions after the law was enacted on June 30, 2020.
The U.S. government has called for Lai’s release as recently as February. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the U.S. remarks were “openly supporting anti-China and Hong Kong-disrupting element Jimmy Lai.”
Closing arguments in the trial were postponed twice last week, on Thursday for bad weather and on Friday to address concerns about Lai’s health. Lai had reported experiencing heart “palpitations” and feeling like he might collapse, his lawyer said.
Lai’s health has been a longstanding concern for his family and supporters. In February, his son Sebastien said that more than four years in prison, much of the time in solitary confinement, had worsened his father’s medical issues. “His body is breaking down … It’s akin to torture,” Sebastien Lai told Reuters.
Prosecutors on Monday said that Lai had been prescribed medication and was wearing a heart rate monitoring device during court proceedings. The prosecution’s opening statement is expected to wrap up Tuesday.
Includes reporting from Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.
Closing arguments began Monday in the trial of Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy media chief who founded the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper in Hong Kong.
The 77-year-old Lai is charged with illegal foreign collusion and conspiring with others to issue seditious publications under Hong Kong’s restrictive National Security Law, which was imposed by Beijing in 2020. He could face life in prison if convicted. Lai has denied the charges.
Members of the Police Counter Terrorism Response Unit stand guard as they escort a prison van believed to be carrying Jimmy Lai to the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts building in Hong Kong, Aug. 18, 2025.(Tyrone Siu/Reuters)
Prosecutors on Monday said that Lai had “unwavering intent to solicit sanctions, blockades, or other hostile activities” against Hong Kong and China from foreign governments, a violation of the National Security Law. Prosecutor Anthony Chau referenced Lai’s travel to the United States around the time of the Hong Kong protests in 2019, including a trip in July of that year when he met with Mike Pence, then the U.S. vice president.
In testimony last year, Lai denied asking anything specific of Pence. He said he also met with then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, asking Pompeo for the U.S. “not to do something, but to say something. To voice out its support for Hong Kong.”
He also said he would not have encouraged foreign sanctions after the law was enacted on June 30, 2020.
The U.S. government has called for Lai’s release as recently as February. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the U.S. remarks were “openly supporting anti-China and Hong Kong-disrupting element Jimmy Lai.”
Closing arguments in the trial were postponed twice last week, on Thursday for bad weather and on Friday to address concerns about Lai’s health. Lai had reported experiencing heart “palpitations” and feeling like he might collapse, his lawyer said.
Lai’s health has been a longstanding concern for his family and supporters. In February, his son Sebastien said that more than four years in prison, much of the time in solitary confinement, had worsened his father’s medical issues. “His body is breaking down … It’s akin to torture,” Sebastien Lai told Reuters.
Prosecutors on Monday said that Lai had been prescribed medication and was wearing a heart rate monitoring device during court proceedings. The prosecution’s opening statement is expected to wrap up Tuesday.
Includes reporting from Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.
The founder of Hong Kong’s now shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, Lai, 77, who is also a British citizen, has been in jail since December 2020.
Lai is currently standing trial for “collusion with foreign forces” under Hong Kong’s National Security Law.
Jimmy Lai’s son Sebastien has warned that “time is running out” for his father’s health, and called on Britain and the United States to push for his release.
Human rights groups say Lai’s trial is a “sham” and part of a broad crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong.
The hearings are scheduled to last eight days.
Jimmy Lai walks through the Stanley prison in Hong Kong, on July 28, 2023.(Louise Delmotte/AP)Jimmy Lai, owner of the Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, poses next to dry runs of a soon to be launched Taiwanese newspaper taped to his office wall, April 7, 2003, in Taipei.(Jerome Favre/AP)This photo taken on Feb. 7, 2011, shows Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai outside his company’s headquarters in Hong Kong.(Mike Clarke/AFP)Media tycoon Jimmy Lai, attends a pro-democracy protesters march in Admiralty on Aug. 31, 2019 in Hong Kong.(Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images)Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai poses during an interview at the Next Digital offices in Hong Kong, June 16, 2020.(Anthony Wallace/AFP)Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai and a copy of Apple Daily’s July 1, 2020, edition during an interview in Hong Kong, July 1, 2020.(Vincent Yu/AP)Hong Kong police officers block the entrance to Apple Daily newspaper on Aug. 10, 2020.(Apple Daily via Getty Images)Hong Kong police officers search the office of Apple Daily newspaper on Aug. 10, 2020.(Apple Daily via Getty Images)Hong Kong police officers search the office of Apple Daily newspaper on Aug. 10, 2020.(Apple Daily via Getty Images)Jimmy Lai is escorted by Hong Kong police officers as they search the office of Apple Daily newspaper on Aug. 10, 2020.(Apple Daily via Getty Images)Hong Kong media tycoon and Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai is escorted by the police for evidence collection on Aug. 11, 2020 in Hong Kong.(Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)Copies of the Apple Daily newspaper, with front pages featuring Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, are displayed for sale at a newsstand in Hong Kong, Aug. 11, 2020.(Kin Cheung/AP)Jimmy Lai, center, who founded the Apple Daily tabloid, is escorted by Correctional Services officers to get on a prison van before appearing in a court, in Hong Kong on Dec. 12, 2020.(Kin Cheung/AP)Copies of the last issue of Apple Daily arrive at a newspaper booth in Hong Kong on June 24, 2021.(Vincent Yu/AP)In this image provided by The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, an artist projection by Robin Bell protests China’s crackdown on dissidents ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in Washington, Jan. 31, 2022.(Andre Chung/Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong via AP)
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.
New York, August 13, 2025—As closing arguments are set to begin on August 14 in the national security trial of Jimmy Lai, founder of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Hong Kong authorities to drop all charges against the 77-year-old publisher and release him immediately and unconditionally.
Lai, whose health has worsened after spending nearly five years in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison, is on trial under charges of sedition and conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. He faces life imprisonment if found guilty.
“The world is watching how Hong Kong treats its journalists,” said CPJ Regional Director Beh Lih Yi. “The prolonged detention of Jimmy Lai not only destroys Hong Kong’s historic reputation as a free and open society, but also as a trusted hub for business. The risk of him dying in prison increases as each day passes.”
Lai’s trial was originally expected to last 30 days when it started in December 2023, after multiple delays. But it will have taken nearly 150 days when it resumes on Thursday. The publisher took the stand in December 2024, with the prosecution questioning Lai over Apple Daily’s editorial policy, particularly 33 opinion columns he wrote.
Lai, a British citizen, has been behind bars since his arrest in December 2020. He has been convicted of various charges, including fraud and participation in a protest. The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Lai is unlawfully and arbitrarily detained.
CPJ was among more than 30 organizations that wrote to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in June, urging him to swiftly meet with Lai’s son, Sebastien — a request that the family has been making for over two years and remains unfulfilled to this day.
A Bangkok gallery is pressured — at China’s request — to remove and redact artwork about Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs, Tibetans and Hong Kongers from an exhibit on authoritarian governments, according to a report by the Reuters news agency.
Video: China pressures Bangkok gallery to remove Uyghur, Tibetan, Hong Kong artwork
In what the artists called the latest attempt by Beijing to silence critics overseas, the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Center changed multiple works by artists in exile in the exhibit on authoritarian governments collaborating across borders.
According to Reuters, works removed included a multimedia installation by a Tibetan artist, while other pieces had been altered, with the words “Hong Kong”, “Tibet” and “Uyghur” redacted, along with the names of the artists.
Artists names are redacted following what the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Center (BACC) said in an email was ‘pressure from the Chinese Embassy’, at the exhibition titled ‘Constellation of Complicity: Visualising the Global Machinery of Authoritarian Solidarity’ in Bangkok, Aug. 7, 2025.(Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)
Sai, co-founder of Myanmar Peace Museum, the organization that put together the exhibition, said the removed pieces included Tibetan and Uyghur flags and postcards featuring Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as a postcard depicting links between China and Israel.
Earlier this year Thailand repatriated 40 Uyghurs to China. U.N. experts had warned they would be at risk of torture, ill-treatment and irreparable harm.
Reporting by Reuters
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.
New York, June 30, 2025—Hong Kong, an international financial hub and once a beacon of free media, is now in the grip of a rapid decline in press freedom that threatens the city’s status as a global financial information center.
Three journalists told CPJ that investigative reporting on major economic events, a cornerstone of Hong Kong’s financial transparency, has nearly disappeared amid government pressure and the departure of major outlets.
The sharp decline in press freedom, the journalists said, is a direct result of the National Security Law. This law, enacted on June 30, 2020, was imposed directly by Beijing, bypassing Hong Kong’s local legislature, and included offenses for secession, subversion, terrorist activities, and collusion with foreign forces, with penalties ranging from a three years to life imprisonment.
In the five years since it was enacted, authorities have shut down media outlets and arrested several journalists, including Jimmy Lai, the founder of one of Hong Kong’s largest newspapers, the pro-democracy Apple Daily. Several major international news organizations have either relocated or downsized their operations in Hong Kong, leading to a decline in reporting on the city and its financial hub.
“Hong Kong’s economic boom happened because journalists could work without interference,” said a veteran reporter with 11 years’ experience in television, newspapers, and digital platforms in Hong Kong, who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
While markets still function, at least three media professionals told CPJ that the erosion of press freedom — often overlooked — is a key factor behind Hong Kong’s fading financial appeal to market participants. One reporter described the media as “paralyzed.”
Another hastily passed security law enacted in March 2024 in Hong Kong further deepened fears that it would be used to suppress press freedom and prosecute journalists.
Jimmy Lai walks through the Stanley prison in Hong Kong in 2023. (Photo: AP/Louise Delmotte)
“There has never been an international financial center in history that operates with restrictions on information,” Simon Lee, an economic commentator and former assistant CEO of Next Digital Group, the parent company of Apple Daily, told CPJ.
Hong Kong long served as a base for reporting on China’s economy and power structures, said a former financial journalist on the condition of anonymity, citing safety concerns.
“Most Hong Kong-listed companies come from the mainland [China]. Foreign media used Hong Kong to observe China’s economic operations or wealth transfers,” the former financial journalist told CPJ. “Now the risks feel similar to reporting from inside China.”
Crackdowns, shutdowns, and an exodus of major media
Since the introduction of the National Security Law in 2020, at least eight media outlets have shut. These included Apple Daily, news and lifestyle magazine Next Magazine, both published by Lai’s Next Digital group, and the online outlet Stand News, after they were raided by authorities.
At least four other media organizations —Post852,DB channel,Citizen News, andFactWire — ceased operations voluntarily, citing concerns over the deteriorating political environment.
China had the world’shighest number of imprisoned journalists in CPJ’s latest prison census — 50 in total, including eight in Hong Kong.
The New York Timesmoved part of its newsroom to Seoul in 2020. In March 2024, Radio Free Asiaclosed its Hong Kong office, and in May, The Wall Street Journalrelocated its Asia headquarters to Singapore.
“With fewer foreign correspondents based in the city, there’s simply less reporting on Hong Kong,” the former financial journalist told CPJ. “As a result, the city’s economy may receive less objective attention on the global stage.”
The former financial journalist said that one of the biggest losses after the security law was the disappearance of Apple Daily. Unlike most local media, which focused on routine market updates, Apple Daily connected business to politics and mapped interest networks — an increasingly rare practice.
Copies of the last issue of Apple Daily arrive at a newspaper booth in Hong Kong on June 24, 2021. (Photo: AP/Vincent Yu)
Next Digital, through Apple Daily, built a reputation for investigative financial reporting. A former staff member told the BBC that the company once spent over 100,000 yuan (US$14,000) tracing dozens of property owners to uncover a developer’s hidden ties with a bank.
“From a financial news perspective, one of our biggest problems is losing Apple Daily,” the former financial journalist told CPJ.
Local business reporting also fades away
As Hong Kong’s financial hub reputation comes under question, stories on high unemployment rates, struggling small businesses, and store closures are increasingly out of sight.
“One direct effect is feeling increasingly unable to grasp what’s happening in the city; important information no longer seems easy to access,” Lee said. “Previously, competition among professional outlets encouraged source sharing and helped maintain a power balance. Now, one-way government-controlled information faces little resistance.”
Lee told CPJ that changes in Hong Kong’s media landscape are particularly evident in major financial events, pointing to the coverage of the 2024 sale of Li Ka-shing’s port assets, in which local outlets failed to question the deal’s structure, rationale, or political implications.
“Beijing called it a national security matter, and the other side of the story disappeared,” Lee told CPJ. “Many focus on the judicial system when discussing fairness, but true fairness also depends on the free flow of information … Without information freedom, public oversight fades, and the market’s system of checks and balances collapses.”
Lee also cited the case of Alvin Chau, a casino tycoon in Macao who was sentenced in 2023 to 18 years for illegal gambling. While foreign media uncovered his alleged links to oil smuggling operations to North Korea, local media offered little follow-up.
“These investigations and reports simply no longer exist,” Lee said.
Sources can’t speak freely
Two journalists told CPJ they have noticed increasing reluctance from interviewees.
During previous years of the Annual Budget Speech, Hong Kong’s yearly announcement of its public spending and economic plans, the media would host analysis shows with economists debating government spending and policies.
“We would ask about the fiscal surplus, support for the poor, and whether measures were targeted,” the veteran reporter told CPJ, adding that now, “only one professor is willing to speak openly.”
Lee told CPJ that the atmosphere of “not being allowed to criticize” the broader structure or government policy has also extended to the reporting on how financial markets operate.
Market participants should be free to take either optimistic or pessimistic views of the economic outlook, Lee told CPJ, adding that today in Hong Kong, it is discouraged to express pessimism, and even silently shifting toward defensive investment strategies or risk-averse behavior may be interpreted as making a political statement.
“It’s hard for any place with such high information costs to remain a global financial hub,” Lee said. “Because even pulling back on investment can send a signal. If investors are accused of intentionally dragging down the market just because they try to hedge or take a cautious view, they may decide it’s safer to avoid the market altogether.”
In response to CPJ’s request for comment, a Hong Kong government spokesperson referred CPJ to a statement that said the security law has enabled the city to “make a major transition from chaos to order” and “the business environment has continuously improved,” while press freedom is protected under the law.
The League of Social Democrats, a pro-democracy party with a 19-year history, has announced it will hold a press conference Sunday to announce its disbandment, signaling the disappearance of pro-democracy parties from Hong Kong’s political landscape.
“Next year would have marked the 20th anniversary of our founding, but we will not make it to that day,” LSD said in a media notice on Friday. “We are announcing our dissolution.”
A source told RFA Cantonese that LSD was warned several times, beginning in April, that it must dissolve before July 1 or risk being forcibly disbanded.
Incumbent LSD chairperson Chan Po-ying has previously declined to comment. On Friday, she again said she would not respond before the press conference.
“No Resistance, No Change”
Founded in 2006, LSD’s slogan was “No resistance, no change.” The party made headlines in 2008 when it secured three seats in the Legislative Council with Wong Yuk-man, Leung Kwok-hung, and Albert Chan, becoming the third-largest pro-democracy party. Known for its confrontational style, LSD lawmakers famously threw bananas at then-Chief Executive Donald Tsang during a LegCo session, becoming a symbol of the city’s radical democrats. Outside the legislature, LSD organized and participated in numerous protests and civil disobedience campaigns.
In 2009, LSD and the Civic Party launched the “Five Constituencies Referendum” campaign, in which five lawmakers resigned and re-contested their seats to demand universal suffrage. All five, including LSD’s Leung Kwok-hung, Wong Yuk-man, and Albert Chan, and Civic Party’s Alan Leong and Tanya Chan, were re-elected in the May 2010 by-election.
Pro-democracy activists Chung Yiu-wa, Cheung Say-yin, former Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Wing-tat, baptist minister Chu Yiu-ming, 74, law professor Benny Tai, 54, sociology professor Chan Kin-man, 59, lawmakers Tanya Chan and Shiu Ka-chun, and League of Social Democrats vice-chairman Raphael Wong, chant before entering the West Kowloon Magistrates Court in Hong Kong on Nov. 19, 2018. (Anthony Wallace/AFP)
Legislative filibusters and internal splits
In 2011, LSD launched a “vote repayment” campaign targeting the Democratic Party for its role in pushing forward Beijing-approved electoral reforms. Internal disagreements over strategy led to a split, with Wong Yuk-man and Albert Chan forming People Power. Leung Kwok-hung then took over as LSD chair. The party retained only one LegCo seat in the 2012 and 2016 elections but continued legislative filibusters and budget protest actions alongside People Power.
In 2016, Leung Kwok-hung was disqualified from LegCo for holding a yellow umbrella and tearing up a copy of the NPC’s “831” decision during his oath-taking. Since then, LSD has had no seats in the legislature but continued grassroots activism and protest actions.
Leung Kwok-hung still imprisoned
Many LSD members have served jail time for civil disobedience. Leung Kwok-hung, now 69, remains in prison as a defendant in the 47 democrats’ national security case. LSD vice-chair Jimmy Sham, also one of the 47, was released last month after serving his sentence.
Even after other pro-democracy parties such as the Democratic Party and Civic Party disbanded, LSD continued street actions under the National Security Law era — addressing issues like labor importation and minimum wage.
Earlier this year, the party planned a protest outside government headquarters on Budget Day but canceled due to “immense pressure.” Some LSD members also had their bank accounts frozen or closed, and several were charged for “unauthorized fundraising in public” and “unauthorized display of posters.”
Edited by Greg Barber
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
New York, June 24, 2025—On the fourth anniversary of the closure of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined 32 other press freedom and human rights organizations in calling on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to urgently meet with Sebastien Lai, son of jailed publisher and British citizen Jimmy Lai.
Sebastien Lai has sought a meeting with Starmer for more than two years to advocate for the release of his father, 77-year-old Jimmy Lai, who founded Apple Daily. His health is deteriorating and he risks dying in jail.
Lai has been imprisoned for over 1,600 days, mostly in isolation, while awaiting the outcome of a long-delayed trial for sedition and conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law. After Lai’s arrest in 2020, Apple Daily was shuttered on June 24, 2021, following police raids and the freezing of the paper’s assets.
New York, June 24, 2025—On the fourth anniversary of the closure of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined 32 other press freedom and human rights organizations in calling on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to urgently meet with Sebastien Lai, son of jailed publisher and British citizen Jimmy Lai.
Sebastien Lai has sought a meeting with Starmer for more than two years to advocate for the release of his father, 77-year-old Jimmy Lai, who founded Apple Daily. His health is deteriorating and he risks dying in jail.
Lai has been imprisoned for over 1,600 days, mostly in isolation, while awaiting the outcome of a long-delayed trial for sedition and conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law. After Lai’s arrest in 2020, Apple Daily was shuttered on June 24, 2021, following police raids and the freezing of the paper’s assets.
New York, June 24, 2025—On the fourth anniversary of the closure of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined 32 other press freedom and human rights organizations in calling on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to urgently meet with Sebastien Lai, son of jailed publisher and British citizen Jimmy Lai.
Sebastien Lai has sought a meeting with Starmer for more than two years to advocate for the release of his father, 77-year-old Jimmy Lai, who founded Apple Daily. His health is deteriorating and he risks dying in jail.
Lai has been imprisoned for over 1,600 days, mostly in isolation, while awaiting the outcome of a long-delayed trial for sedition and conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law. After Lai’s arrest in 2020, Apple Daily was shuttered on June 24, 2021, following police raids and the freezing of the paper’s assets.
Hong Kong authorities are declining to provide details of six recent arrests under a national security law, fueling growing concerns about government transparency as it tightens controls on dissent.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said Tuesday that since the promulgation of the National Security Law in 2020, 332 individuals have been arrested. That was an increase of six arrests since Secretary for Security Chris Tang stated on June 1 that 326 people had been arrested under the law, with 165 convictions.
When local media asked about the new arrests, the Security Bureau said detailed breakdowns of arrest figures are “classified information related to safeguarding national security in the HKSAR and thus will not be made public.” HKSAR stands for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Political commentator Sampson Wong said that in the past the Hong Kong government rarely used national security as a reason to withhold information, and now the public’s basic right to know was being damaged.
“At this point, reporters can still detect some of these arrests, but how long will that last? In the future, will people be arrested without anyone knowing?” Wong asked.
“Anything could be labelled a breach of confidentiality. If this continues, the truth will be completely under the control of national security authorities,” he said.
A March 21, 2023, photo shows Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee in Hong Kong.(Louise Delmotte/AP)
The National Security Law was adopted after massive pro-democracy protests in 2019 as Beijing tightened controls over Hong Kong, which had enjoyed greater civic freedoms than mainland China and greater government transparency, including by police. China maintains the 2020 law was required to maintain order.
Last month, the Hong Kong government bypassed Legislative Council procedures and unilaterally enacted two new subsidiary laws under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, which significantly expanded the powers of Beijing’s office overseeing national security in the city.
Under the measures, it is prohibited to disclose or film the office’s operations; civil servants must cooperate with and support national security operations; and any act that obstructs national security officers from performing their duties is criminalized.
While it remains unclear which six arrests happened in the past two weeks, on June 2, the National Security Department arrested one man and four women for allegedly conspiring to commit terrorist activities. The suspects had reportedly used phones, emails, and messaging apps to send messages threatening to bomb central government offices and a sports park, while also promoting pro-independence messages for Taiwan and Hong Kong.
On June 6, prominent democracy advocate Joshua Wong, who is already serving a four-year-and-eight-month sentence for subversion, was formally arrested on an additional charge of “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces.”
Last week, authorities also launched a national security investigation into six unnamed persons on suspicion of “colluding with a foreign country.” But the Security Bureau clarified that no arrests had been made as yet related to that probe.
Edited by Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
The app makers call it a “war saga” where gamers can choose a rebel faction from Hong Kong, Taiwan and even Tibet and then play at fighting Chinese communist forces – or if they choose, fight for the communist side instead.
But it seems like whichever side you choose, it could get you into trouble in Hong Kong.
This week, the city’s police issued a stark warning against downloading the mobile app “Reversed Front: Bonfire” on the grounds that the game is “advocating armed revolution and the overthrow of the fundamental system of the People’s Republic of China.”
The police force’s National Security Department, or NSD, said in a statement Tuesday that any person who shares or recommends the app, or makes in-app purchases, may be violating articles of the city’s draconian national security law that punish incitement to secession and subversion. A person who downloads the app would be in possession of a publication with a “seditious intention.”
The statement concluded that such acts are “extremely serious offences” and that police would strictly enforce the law.
“Members of the public should not download the application or provide funding by any means to the relevant developer. Those who have downloaded the application should uninstall it immediately and must not attempt to defy the law,” it said.
Welcome to Hong Kong in 2025, where even gaming apps are in the cross-hairs of authorities.
Until a few years ago, the city was famed for its vibrant civic society and freedoms which had persisted since the territory came under Chinese control in 1997.
“It’s absurd that the government fears this game, especially when players are free to choose any faction—including the Red Army,” one gamer who goes by the alias Fu Tong told Radio Free Asia. “Their reaction just reflects an authoritarian regime’s deep fear of freedom and how brittle the system really is.”
Widening crackdown
The warning, apparently the first issued in Hong Kong against a gaming app, was the latest sign of a widening crackdown on basic freedoms that has ensued since massive anti-government protests that broke out six years ago. That movement was followed by the passage of the 2020 national security law imposed by Beijing and a law enacted by the Hong Kong legislature 2024.
The app’s developer, ESC Taiwan, did not immediately respond to an RFA request for comment on Tuesday’s police statement.
ESC has described itself as a civilian volunteer group that was set up in 2017 to “coordinate with overseas anti-Communist organizations and assist foreign allies with outreach and organizing efforts.” It doesn’t disclose who its members are but says they are mostly Taiwanese, with a few Hongkongers and Mongolians.
The game’s first online version was released in 2020, and a board game version launched in the same year. At the time, China’s state-run Global Times published a critical editorial accusing the game of promoting “Taiwanese independence” and “Hong Kong separatism.”
According to a person familiar with the operations of ESC, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, the developers had raised over HK$6 million (US$760,000) via crowdfunding in Taiwan and Hong Kong in 2019 to develop the game, and a portion of the game’s revenue is donated to anti-China Communist Party organizations abroad.
Players of “Reversed Front: Bonfire” can assume the role of rebels from places such as Hong Kong, Tibet, Mongolia, Manchuria, Taiwan and the Uyghur region trying to overthrow the communist regime.
“Or you can choose to lead the Communists to defeat all enemies and resume the century-long march of the Communist revolution to the other side of the land and sea!” ESC says in its promo for the app.
For the Hong Kong option, numerous game characters are inspired by the city’s past protest culture. For example, one character, “Ka Yan,” hails from Yuen Long – a town in Hong Kong’s western territories – and wears blue-and-white striped tape often used by Hong Kong police. Another, “Sylvia,” wears a gas mask and a uniform printed with the slogan, “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times.”
The game’s dialogue is also steeped in Hong Kong culture and includes an instrumental version of “Glory to Hong Kong,” a banned anthem that was popular during 2019 pro-democracy protests.
While the police statement on Tuesday appeared to boost interest in the game, The Associated Press in Hong Kong reported that the app was not available in Apple app story by Wednesday morning. It remains available in the United States.
One gamer, Andy, said that after the statement was issued Hong Kong-themed player groups within the game quickly cleared their chat logs fearing they could be trawled by authorities.
He praised the game as reflecting current geopolitical realities, including China’s approach to Taiwan – the self-ruling island that Beijing claims as part of China.
Supporting this game, Andy added, also allows players to symbolically “defend Hong Kong territory.”
Edited by Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Cantonese.
One of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy activists, Joshua Wong, was transported from prison to court Friday and charged with colluding with foreign forces, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Wong, 28, is already serving a four-year-and-eight-month sentence for subversion. He is currently due for release about one-and-a-half years from now. If found guilty on the new charge it could prolong his imprisonment.
Wong is one of the most internationally recognizable faces of the now-quashed democracy movement in the city. He was among 45 Hong Kong opposition politicians and pro-democracy activists who were convicted with “conspiracy to commit subversion” under the city’s 2020 National Security Law for taking part in a democratic primary in the summer of 2020.
Wong appeared at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Friday afternoon wearing a navy blue shirt. He appeared in good spirits. After the court clerk read out the charge, Wong responded, “Understood,” and waved and nodded to supporters as he left. The entire hearing lasted about three minutes.
He was charged with one count of “conspiring to collude with foreign or external forces to endanger national security.” He was specifically accused of conspiring with exiled activist Nathan Law and others in 2020.
The case was adjourned until Aug. 8 to allow for further investigation, and Wong did not apply for bail and will remain in custody. He was not required to enter a plea.
In this March 4, 2021, photo, Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong is escorted by Correctional Services officers to a prison van in Hong Kong.(Kin Cheung/AP)
Dozens of uniformed officers were stationed outside the courthouse. Police set up barricades and vehicle-stoppers at nearby intersections, and police dogs were deployed for searches.
Sarah Brooks, China director at Amnesty International, said: “This new charge underscores the authorities’ fear of prominent dissenters and their willingness to do whatever it takes to keep them locked up for as long as possible.”
The nongovernment Hong Kong Human Rights Information Centre condemned what it called strategic abuse of the National Security Law to launch politically motivated prosecutions of pro-democracy leaders.
The group said the timing of the new charge—nearly five years after the alleged events—as clearly designed to avoid any overlap in sentencing, thereby maximizing Wong’s time in prison.
Wong rose to prominence during student-led protests more than a decade ago. He also joined massive democracy rallies in 2019 that triggered the imposition of the national security law.
China maintains the law is required to maintain order. It has cracked down on political dissent and squelched a once vibrant civil society in the territory.
Edited by Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
China announced Friday it was replacing its top official in Hong Kong who was regarded as a symbol of Beijing’s hardline approach toward the territory since 2019 pro-democracy protests.
China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said it was removing Zheng Yanxiong from several key positions including as director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Zheng was viewed as the Chinese Communist Party’s top envoy in Hong Kong and a key liaison with Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee, who was appointed by China’s State Council as the head of the Hong Kong government.
No reason was given Friday for removing Zheng and if he was being appointed to another position.
Zheng was dispatched by Beijing to Hong Kong in 2019 to oversee the crackdown on the protests, before his appointment in 2020 as the first head of the Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong. In 2023, he was promoted to director of the Liaison Office – the position he’s now vacating.
Throughout his tenure, he aggressively promoted the enforcement of Hong Kong’s National Security Law as Beijing looked to curtail the freedoms that had set the city apart from the mainland since the 1997 handover from British control. His tenure saw tighter controls over the press, academia, and civil society — drawing widespread international criticism.
In 2023, Zheng took the unprecedented step of reviewing a Hong Kong police graduation ceremony, warning new officers of “hostile foreign forces” trying to make a comeback. Analysts said that was intended to assert Beijing’s firm control over security in the territory.
Friday’s announcement said China’s State Council has now appointed Zhou Ji to succeed Zheng as director of the Liaison Office and national security adviser in Hong Kong.
Zhou previously served as executive deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office.
Edited by Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
Hong Kong police have arrested the father and brother of wanted U.S.-based activist Anna Kwok, local media reported on Friday.
The police said they arrested two men aged 35 and 68 on Wednesday, suspecting them of violating the national security and crimes ordinances by “attempting to directly or indirectly handle the funds of fugitives.” They didn’t identify the men.
Local media said the police discovered that Kwok’s father, Kwok Yin-sang, traveled overseas to meet her. After returning to Hong Kong he tried to withdraw nearly US$14,000 from his daughter’s life and accident insurance policies, police said.
Kwok’s brother worked at an insurance company, according to the Sing Tao Daily, and may have used his knowledge of the industry to help manage his sister’s finances.
Kwok’s father was denied bail while her brother was released, Reuters reported. The family’s lawyer could not be reached for comment, the news agency said.
Anna Kwok is the executive director of the Washington-based political lobbying group the Hong Kong Democracy Council. Hong Kong authorities offered a HK$1 million (US$128,000) bounty for her capture, accusing her of “colluding with foreign forces” under the national security law, which bans criticism of the authorities.
Kwok’s parents and two brothers were detained in August last year and questioned over whether they had any contact or financial dealings with her.
Kwok wrote on Facebook at the time that her family had never helped her and were probably unaware of the nature of her work. She said the Hong Kong government wanted to silence her by harassing her family, but she would not give up trying to pave the way for Hong Kong’s freedom and self-determination.
Edited by Mike Firn and Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
BANGKOK – Hong Kong authorities on Tuesday freed four former lawmakers who each spent more than four years in prison for their part in staging an unofficial primary election in 2020, local media reported.
Claudia Mo, Jeremy Tam, Kwok Ka-ki and Gary Fan were among 47 activists arrested for the election activities. Only two of the 47 were acquitted after a grueling 118-day trial that ended in November 2024 with prison sentences of four to 10 years.
Vehicles carrying the freed activists left three prisons early on Tuesday amid tight security, The Associated Press reported.
Reporters outside Mo’s home were told by husband Philip Bowring that she was resting and didn’t want to speak to them, according to the AFP news agency.
“She’s well and she’s in good spirits,” he said. “We look forward to being together again.”
Mo, Tam, Kwok and Fan – who received the shortest sentences of the 47 – had their prison time reduced after pleading guilty.
A pro-democracy activist protests outside the West Kowloon courts as closing arguments open in Hong Kong’s largest national security trial of 47 pro-democracy figures, Nov. 29, 2023.(Louise Delmotte/AP)
The group organized the 2020 primary to find the best pro-democracy candidates for Hong Kong’s September 2020 Legislative Council election at a time when Beijing was aggressively eroding the territory’s autonomy. More than 600,000 people cast their votes in the preliminary poll.
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s governor at the time, postponed the 2020 election, citing health concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government then rewrote the electoral rulebook to prevent pro-democracy candidates from running, eventually holding a fresh election in December 2021 in which only “patriots” approved by a Beijing-backed committee were allowed to stand.
On Jan. 6, 2021, the newly formed national security police arrested 55 people. They brought formal charges against 47 of them, then denied bail to the majority.
The 47 pro-democracy activists were charged with subversion under the city’s 2020 National Security Law, a charge which carries a maximum life sentence.
The prosecution argued that their bid to win a majority was “a conspiracy” to undermine the city’s government and take control of the Legislative Council.
The long-running case sparked international outrage, with protests from the U.S., U.K. and Australian governments, and the United Nations. Hong Kong’s last British colonial governor, Lord Patten of Barnes, called the case “an affront to the people of Hong Kong.”
Edited by Taejun Kang and Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Mike Firn for RFA.
Hong Kong’s Cardinal Joseph Zen, previously arrested under the Beijing-imposed national security law, was allowed to leave the city to attend Pope Francis’ funeral in an apparent show of leniency for the retired bishop known for being a vocal critic of China’s interference in church affairs.
Zen, 93, departed for Vatican City on Wednesday evening after a court granted the temporary return of his passport, which was confiscated after his arrest in 2022 for allegedly colluding with foreign forces and endangering national security, two sources told Radio Free Asia.
Cardinal Zen, who is currently on bail after his 2022 arrest, is traveling with a member of the Salesian religious congregation, one of the largest groups in the church, the sources said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
World leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Italian Prime Minister Giogia Meloni, are expected to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, who died Monday at the age of 88.
The papal funeral is scheduled to take place on Saturday.
Cardinal Stephen Chow, the current bishop of Hong Kong, has also arrived in Rome to attend Pope Francis’s funeral and participate in the secret conclave to vote for the new pope, according to the city’s Catholic Social Communications Office.
Retired Cardinal Joseph Zen attends mass at the Holy Cross Church in Hong Kong on May 24, 2022.(PETER PARKS/AFP)
In Italy, Zen will be received by Father John Paul Cheung, a priest from the Salesian order, who will help coordinate his schedule there, the sources said.
The Associated Press on Thursday quoted Cardinal Zen’s secretary as confirming that the retired bishop had recently applied to the court for his passport to be released.
The cardinal intends to return to Hong Kong after attending the funeral, though the exact date of his return is yet to be confirmed, the AP reported, citing his secretary.
Earlier in the week, Zen criticized the Vatican for providing only a day’s notice before convening the first General Congregation, prior to the papal conclave, saying the short notice made it difficult for elderly cardinals from peripheral regions to arrive on time.
Conditions for travel
This is not the first time Cardinal Zen has been permitted to retrieve his passport. In January 2023, he was allowed to attend the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
During that visit, Zen met privately with Pope Francis — their first meeting since Zen’s 2022 arrest. In a later interview, Francis had described Zen as “a gentle soul,” while Zen, in turn, said Pope Francis made him feel very warm and comforted.
The conditions for Zen’s travel are expected to be similar to those in the past, including a ban on media interviews and surrender of his passport to the police upon his return, in accordance with bail conditions for those arrested under the national security law.
(L-R) Scholar Hui Po-keung, Cardinal Joseph Zen, Cantopop star Denise Ho and former pro-democracy lawmaker and barrister Margaret Ng, who pleaded not guilty to ‘collusion with foreign forces’ in connection with their trusteeship of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, head to court in Hong Kong, May 24, 2022. Credit: RFA.
In May 2022, Zen’s arrest by Hong Kong’s national security police along with other pro-democracy figures sparked international outrage from governments and rights activists.
Later that year, he and his co-defendants were fined after being found guilty of failing to properly register their 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which offered financial, legal and psychological help to people arrested during the city’s 2019 protest movement.
They are scheduled to appear in court for an appeal hearing on Dec. 3, 2025.
In particular, he has accused Cardinal Pietro Parolin – the Vatican’s secretary of state and a frontrunner to become the new pontiff – of being “a man of little faith,” for his role in architecting the deal that many say undermines the church’s mission in China.
The next pope will be elected by the College of Cardinals in a secret conclave. Zen, like other cardinals aged over 80, does not have voting rights but can participate in the discussions.
Of the three cardinals in the Hong Kong diocese, only Chow, 65, is eligible to vote. Ascending to the papacy requires the votes of 90 out of 135 cardinals eligible to participate in the Vatican conclave.
Several prominent cardinals who oversee dioceses in Asia are regarded by the region’s faithful as worthy candidates to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. An Asian pope would be a first for the church.
Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
