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Hong Kong's Highest Court Revokes Bail for Media Tycoon and Pro-Democracy
Activist

VOA News

   Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai is heading
   back to detention after the city's highest court revoked his bail
   Thursday.

   The 73-year-old Lai was arrested Dec. 3 and spent three weeks behind
   bars before posting a $1.2 million bond just last week. Prosecutors
   appealed the decision to grant Lai bail, claiming the judgment was
   erroneous.

   Lai was barred from using Twitter, granting interviews or colluding
   with foreign forces.

   The owner of Next Digital media company was initially charged with
   fraud, with prosecutors accusing him of violating terms of the
   company's lease of its office space. Lai has since been charged under
   Hong Kong's new national security law for "foreign collusion."

   Lai was first arrested under the new law on suspicion of foreign
   collusion in August. Hours after his arrest, more than 100 police
   officers raided the headquarters of Next Digital, which publishes the
   newspaper Apple Day. The newspaper livestreamed the raid on its
   website, showing officers roaming the newsroom as they rummaged through
   reporters' files, while Lai was led through the newsroom in handcuffs.

   Lai was eventually released on bail after 40 hours in custody.

   Lai is already in legal jeopardy for his pro-democracy activism. He was
   one of 15 activists arrested earlier this year and hit with seven
   charges, including organizing and participating in unauthorized
   assemblies and inciting others to take part in an unauthorized
   assembly.

   He is one of the highest-profile Hong Kongers targeted by the new
   security law since it went into effect in July. Under the law, anyone
   in Hong Kong believed to be carrying out terrorism, separatism,
   subversion of state power or collusion with foreign forces could be
   tried and face life in prison if convicted.

   The new law was imposed by Beijing in response to the massive and often
   violent pro-democracy demonstrations that engulfed the financial hub in
   the last half of last year, and is the cornerstone of its increasing
   grip on the city, which was granted an unusual amount of freedoms when
   Britain handed over control in 1997.