A Hong Kong court convicted pro-democracy activist and media tycoon Jimmy Lai, 74, of fraud for allegedly violating a lease by operating a consulting firm out of an office owned by a government-owned entity, NBC News reported Oct. 25.
The NBC report states the conviction is "the latest of myriad cases against Lai," a British citizen and founder of defunct pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily. Lai is already serving prison sentences for his part in unauthorized anti-government protests in Hong Kong in 2019 and 2020, including a vigil for the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident, according to the report.
Lai and co-defendant Wong Wai-keung pleaded not guilty to charges they hid that they were running a consulting firm out of the offices of Apple Daily's parent company, Next Digital, which violated its lease with "a government-owned entity," the report states. Wong, a former senior executive at Next Digital, was also convicted, according to the report.
Lai is scheduled to be in court in December on charges of "colluding with foreign forces" and conspiring to produce "seditious publications." He will be tried under a security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 against protests. Lai faces life in prison if convicted, NBC News reported.
Last December, Lai was sentenced to 13 months in jail after being found guilty of encouraging participation in an illegal assembly, the BBC reported Dec. 13. Lai was among thousands of people who defied an order not to gather to commemorate those who were killed during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Lai denied that he had “incited” others to join in the vigil, but wrote, “If commemorating those who died because of injustice is a crime, then inflict on me that crime and let me suffer the punishment ... so I may share the burden and glory of those young men and women who shed their blood on 4 June [1989],” according to the BBC.
The Tiananmen Square Incident, also known as the June 4th Incident, refers to protests in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in the spring of 1989, according to Britannica. Chinese university students called for political and economic reforms and spoke out against inflation and corrupt government officials.
Tensions between citizens and the Chinese government had heightened after the death of Hu Yaobang, who had been forced to resign from his post as CCP general secretary in 1987 for calling for democratic reforms. Students held up Hu as a martyr and attended his funeral on April 22, 1989, demanding reforms, Britannica states.
As the number of protesters in Beijing grew and similar protests emerged in other cities, the government issued “stern warnings,” according to the Britannica article. By late May, martial law was implemented. Residents crowded the streets and prevented military personnel from reaching Tiananmen Square. On the night of June 3, military tanks and armed soldiers advanced, shooting or crushing the protesters who got in their way. The violent actions cleared the area of protesters by June 5.
The Chinese government maintains that 200 people were killed in Tiananmen Square, according to BBC News. However, Sir Alan Donald, who was the British Ambassador to China, said at the time that 10,000 people were killed.
Mike Pompeo, a former U.S. Sec. of State, commented on the conviction of Lai in a Twitter post on Oct. 27.
“I’ve met with Jimmy Lai," Pompeo wrote. "His conviction in a kangaroo court is a miscarriage of justice. And it shows how far China will go to hide the truth.”
