-
Police shutter Apple daily newspaper putting China's Free Speech in danger

The Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily has been forced to close. It was doomed since last year, when China’s Communist government imposed a harsh National Security Law on Hong Kong. Police
We For News reported that on the day it was shuttered, people queued to buy one last copy; a million were printed.
The paper offices were raided by the police. Its journalists were threatened with violence. Its assets were frozen. Salaries could no longer be paid. Senior editors and a chief columnist were arrested.
The paper’s alleged crime was “collusion with foreign powers,” or as the former Chief Executive of Hong Kong, C.Y. Leung, crassly put it, “collusion with scum from foreign countries.” Its real crime was its highly critical coverage of the Communist Party of China, of the Hong Kong government, and of corrupt local tycoons and politicians ever since Jimmy Lai founded the paper in 1995. Police
Lai himself has already been in prison for almost a year, charged with fraud, collusion with foreign countries, and taking part in unlawful demonstrations. He could in theory be locked up for life.
Neither Lai, nor his paper, fit the high-minded ideal of progressive activism. Apple Daily is partly a sensationalist tabloid full of stories about the sexual transgressions of movie stars and other local celebrities, salacious gossip, and general muckraking. In most liberal democracies, such publications are usually seen as the unfortunate price to be paid for the right to free speech. The British tabloid press, for example, is hardly progressive, high-minded, or principled.
But Apple Daily was principled in its way. True, the paper’s tone was populist and not always civil. People from mainland China arriving in Hong Kong to share in its riches were once compared to “locusts.” But Apple Daily also offered some of Asia’s sharpest political reporting and was often the only publication in Hong Kong that regularly exposed and analyzed financial or political wrongdoing.
Lai is a fascinating and complicated figure. An avowed admirer of Donald Trump and a devout Catholic convert, he holds rather strident views on the superiority of Western Christian civilization over what he sees as the tyrannical nature of Chinese civilization. This opinion is not uncommon among Christian Chinese political activists, but it tends to find more backing from the far right in the West than from liberals. Police
Lai is what might be described as a rough diamond. After fleeing China in 1959 at the age of 12, in less than 30 years he worked his way up from being a child laborer in a garment factory to become a textile magnate whose jeans brand, Giordano, sold well all over China and elsewhere in Asia. He became a very rich man.
Everything changed radically for Lai after the savage crackdown on the pro-democracy demonstrations in China in 1989. He had supported the student protesters occupying Tiananmen Square and sent them free T-shirts. When the Chinese authorities sent in troops to crush the protests, killing thousands, Lai became a vocal opponent of the Communist regime. He sold his garment business, which was threatened with closure in China anyway, and started a magazine called Next, and then Apple Daily. “Information to me is freedom,” he said.
Lai wrote articles calling Li Peng, who carried out the savage crackdown in 1989, an “idiot” and “the son of a turtle egg” (a particularly nasty insult among mainland Chinese). Since Li was rumored to have been adopted by Zhou Enlai after his own father was killed – a claim Li has denied – calling his parentage into question was an especially stinging affront. The government denounced Lai as a “traitor,” a “black hand,” a “rotten apple,” and so on, and viewed his support of democratic politicians and activists in Hong Kong, and his efforts to keep the memory of 1989 alive, as dangerously subversive.
It was in fact unusual for a Hong Kong tycoon to defy the Communist government and promote democracy. Most businessmen keep quiet or do their best to please and placate the government in Beijing. Local businesses stopped advertising in Lai’s publications, and pro-China newspapers in Hong Kong published cartoons of Lai as a monstrous beast wrapped in the American flag. Police
Lai faced physical danger as well. His house in Hong Kong was firebombed. He was threatened with machetes, and he was under constant surveillance and followed wherever he went.
Yet he never gave up. Lai turned up every year to commemorate the Tiananmen Square Massacre. He marched in pro-democracy demonstrations. He visited Britain and the United States to elicit support for maintaining Hong Kong’s freedoms. Although he was ridiculed for meeting US Vice President Mike Pence during Trump’s presidency, he went to see the Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, too. And his tabloid, with its peculiar blend of scandal, gossip, and serious political reporting, was Hong Kong’s indispensable voice of free speech.
Now that voice has been silenced, and Lai is in prison with others who tried to protect the right of Hong Kong’s citizens to speak and write freely, to be ruled by law, and to vote for their own autonomous government. Their politics are diverse: Martin Lee is a venerable barrister and moderate liberal democrat, Joshua Wong is a young leftist firebrand, and Lai is a red-baiting, Trump-admiring conservative Christian. Yet they stand together. When freedom is under siege, people cannot afford the narcissism of small differences that is tearing apart liberal politics in countries where people think democracy can be taken for granted. Police
Source: wefornews
Image source: Apple Daily-wefornews
You May Also Like
Popular Posts
Caricature
BENEFIT AGM approves 10%...
- March 27, 2025
BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the company’s headquarters in the Seef District.
During the meeting, shareholders approved all items listed on the agenda, including the ratification of the minutes of the previous AGM held on 26 March 2024. The session reviewed and approved the Board’s Annual Report on the company’s activities and financial performance for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2024, and the shareholders expressed their satisfaction with the company’s operational and financial results during the reporting period.
The meeting also reviewed the Independent External Auditor’s Report on the company’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024. Subsequently, the shareholders approved the audited financial statements for the fiscal year. Based on the Board’s recommendation, the shareholders approved the distribution of a cash dividend equivalent to 10% of the paid-up share capital.
Furthermore, the shareholders endorsed the allocation of a total amount of BD 172,500 as remuneration to the members of the Board for the year ended 31 December 2024, subject to prior clearance by related authorities.
The extension of the current composition of the Board was approved, which includes ten members and one CBB observer, for a further six-month term, expiring in September 2025, pending no objection from the CBB.
The meeting reviewed and approved the Corporate Governance Report for 2024, which affirmed the company’s full compliance with the corporate governance directives issued by the CBB and other applicable regulatory frameworks. The AGM absolved the Board Members of liability for any of their actions during the year ending on 31st December 2024, in accordance with the Commercial Companies Law.
In alignment with regulatory requirements, the session approved the reappointment of Ernst & Young (EY) as the company’s External Auditors for the fiscal year 2025, covering both the parent company and its subsidiaries—Sinnad and Bahrain FinTech Bay. The Board was authorised to determine the external auditors’ professional fees, subject to approval from the CBB, and the meeting concluded with a discussion of any additional issues as per Article (207) of the Commercial Companies Law.
Speaking on the company’s performance, Mr. Mohamed Al Bastaki, Chairman BENEFIT , stated: “In terms of the financial results for 2024, I am pleased to say that the year gone by has also been proved to be a success in delivering tangible results. Growth rate for 2024 was 19 per cent. Revenue for the year was BD 17 M (US$ 45.3 Million) and net profit was 2 Million ($ 5.3 Million).
Mr. Al Bastaki also announced that the Board had formally adopted a new three-year strategic roadmap to commence in 2025. The strategy encompasses a phased international expansion, optimisation of internal operations, enhanced revenue diversification, long-term sustainability initiatives, and the advancement of innovation and digital transformation initiatives across all service lines.
“I extend my sincere appreciation to the CBB for its continued support of BENEFIT and its pivotal role in fostering a stable and progressive regulatory environment for the Kingdom’s banking and financial sector—an environment that has significantly reinforced Bahrain’s standing as a leading financial hub in the region,” said Mr. Al Bastaki. “I would also like to thank our partner banks and valued customers for their trust, and our shareholders for their ongoing encouragement. The achievements of 2024 set a strong precedent, and I am confident they will serve as a foundation for yet another successful and impactful year ahead.”
Chief Executive of BENEFIT; Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi commented, “The year 2024 represented another pivotal chapter in BENEFIT ’s evolution. We achieved substantial progress in advancing our digital strategy across multiple sectors, while reinforcing our long-term commitment to the development of Bahrain’s financial services and payments landscape. Throughout the year, we remained firmly aligned with our objective of delivering measurable value to our shareholders, strategic partners, and customers. At the same time, we continued to play an active role in enabling Bahrain’s digital economy by introducing innovative solutions and service enhancements that directly address market needs and future opportunities.”
Mr. AlJanahi affirmed that BENEFIT has successfully developed a robust and well-integrated payment network that connects individuals and businesses across Bahrain, accelerating the adoption of emerging technologies in the banking and financial services sector and reinforcing Bahrain’s position as a growing fintech hub, and added, “Our achievements of the past year reflect a long-term vision to establish a resilient electronic payment infrastructure that supports the Kingdom’s digital economy. Key developments in 2024 included the implementation of central authentication for open banking via BENEFIT Pay”
Mr. AlJanahi concluded by thanking the Board for its strategic direction, the company’s staff for their continued dedication, and the Central Bank of Bahrain, member banks, and shareholders for their valuable partnership and confidence in the company’s long-term vision.
opinion
Report
ads
Newsletter
Subscribe to our mailing list to get the new updates!