MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2020) Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, his associates and his two sons were released on bail Tuesday, media reported.
Lai, founder of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, on Monday became the highest-profile Hong Konger yet arrested under the new national security law. He was arrested along with nine others, including his two sons a prominent activist Agnes Chow, in a raid on the newspaper's office and homes.
According to the South China Morning Post, all those arrested were released on bail one by one over the course of Tuesday.
Lai was charged with conspiracy to defraud and collusion with a foreign power, according to the Post citing police sources. The group received similar charges but one of Lai's sons, and other media executives arrested, were charged for financial crimes.
Apple Daily took a decidedly anti-Beijing stance from the onset of the protest movement which began in June 2019 and has since become a go-to mouthpiece for activists and columnists. The issue published Tuesday morning contained bellicose headlines vowing to continue resisting Beijing's influence in the special administrative region.
China's newly-adopted law adjusts security policies in Hong Kong to Beijing's perception of crime and punishment with regard to separatism, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign countries. The critics of the law in China's special administrative region and abroad fear that it might limit Hong Kong's exclusive rights and freedoms.
