Jimmy Lai
Beijing: Hong Kong business tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has been arrested for helping 12 fugitives who tried to flee to Taiwan, as well as collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security, media reports said.
Lai was named in a hearing at West Kowloon Court on Wednesday, in which a 29-year-old legal assistant appeared for mention and was accused of conspiring with Lai, activist Andy Li Yu-hin and others in colluding with external forces, reports South China Morning Post.
Officers arrested Lai, who founded the tabloid-style Apple Daily newspaper, on Tuesday evening under the national security law for “conspiracy to assist an offender”, and “conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security” – a crime carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison, the newspaper reported.
He is one of the high-profile Hong Kong persons who was charged under controversial security law.
The Chinese government enacted the national security law in Hong Kong in late June.
The 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.
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