Forced to cease publication at the end of June 2021, the blow to the newspaper Apple Daily is fatal this time: a court in Hong Kong ordered, Wednesday, December 15, the liquidation of the mother company of the media fiercely pro-democracy.
His assets had been frozen by the authorities in the name of the drastic national security law promulgated last year by Beijing to muzzle any dissent. Its owner, newspaper mogul Jimmy Lai and several journalists and executives of this publication are currently in detention, accused of collusion with foreign powers following articles and editorials published by the daily. They incur life imprisonment.
In September, the Hong Kong executive called for the dissolution of the newspaper’s parent company, Next Digital Limited, saying the move “Opportune in the general interest”. On Wednesday, after a brief hearing, a High Court magistrate, Jack Wong, granted the government’s request.
The Taiwanese edition is said to be in financial difficulty
It is still impossible to know the consequences of the court’s decision for the Taiwanese edition of theApple Daily, still operational as a financially independent subsidiary. The Bloomberg news agency has said it is strapped for cash and will go out of business before the end of the year. Apple Daily Taiwan called this information “Speculation” without making any further comment.
Mr. Lai, 74, is already serving prison terms for participating in pro-democracy protests in recent years. On Monday, he was sentenced to an additional thirteen months in prison for participating in a 2020 rally banned by the authorities, due to health restrictions against Covid-19, to commemorate the crackdown on Tiananmen Square.
Authorities in Hong Kong took steps to restrict press freedom in the once semi-autonomous territory after the massive pro-democracy protests of 2019. In early December, Jimmy Lai and the staff of his pro-democracy daily received the “quill pen”. ‘gold’, a prestigious press freedom award from the World Association of Newspapers and Publishers (Wan-Ifra). The latter greeted the newspaper, seeing it as a “Symbol of pro-democracy and dissent”.