People's Daily Blasts Jimmy Lai's Bail

Lai (centre) was released late Wednesday night on bail

 

It took four days for Beijing to respond to Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's release on bail and as expected, it criticized the Hong Kong courts for allowing the "extremely dangerous" Apple Daily founder to go under house arrest.

An editorial in the People's Daily today with the headline: "Bail granted to Lai Chee-ying severely hurt Hong Kong's rule of law", warned the mainland had "sufficient legal grounds" to take over jurisdiction of the 73-year-old's national security law case.

Lai is the first person to be charged under the national security law for colluding with foreign forces, and the first to be granted bail.

People's Daily editorial today

On Wednesday, he was granted bail for HK$10 million in cash by a High Court judge, and is now under house arrested under strict restrictions, including not being allowed to be interviewed or interview others, publish articles, meet with foreign government representatives, or publish social media posts.

The strongly worded online commentary urged the judiciary to "make the right decisions", and punish "insurgents" like him.

"If the judiciary fails to handle the case impartially and in accordance with the law, it will have severely hurt Hong Kong's rule of law and placed the country's security in an extremely dangerous situation, in turn bringing incalculable negative effects," it said.

The unsigned editorial pointed out Article 55 of the security law allows the central government to assert jurisdiction over certain cases and move defendants to the mainland for trial, saying there were valid grounds for invoking this provision in Lai's case.

It went on to accuse Lai of continuing through "words and deeds", to call on foreign governments to sanction Hong Kong, despite the security law being enacted on June 30. It also maintained demands to release Lai made by foreign politicians, including US Vice-President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, had "confirmed" the allegations of collusion with foreign forces.

"Under these circumstances, many Hong Kong citizens have called on the Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong to intervene in this case decisively in accordance with the law," it added. "There is sufficient legal basis."

Tsang faces charges but has gone into exile

Who are these "citizens" the People's Daily is referring to? In Hong Kong there has been no media reports of residents, nor pro-Beijing politicians, clamoring for Lai to be extradited to the mainland to face trial. 

People in Hong Kong appreciate the city's rule of law and are patient enough to let the case wind through the courts.   

The People's Daily editorial described Lai as "notorious and extremely dangerous", and that the bail conditions set by the court were "unbelievable" and "completely out of proportion to the possible harm Lai might cause to national security".

It said cases like Lai's should not even entertain the prospect of bail, as it was necessary to prevent suspects from continuing to endanger national security. It also urged local courts to learn a "bitter lesson" from the case of Tsang Chi-kin, the 19-year-old student who was shot during last year's protests and was facing charges of rioting and assaulting police, and who has since reportedly fled into exile.

"Lai has been an important pawn of some external forces, and has great value on anti-China campaigns. External forces have the motive to facilitate his escape from Hong Kong," the commentary said. "Who would shoulder responsibility if Lai absconds or continues to wreck Hong Kong while on bail?"

Law (left) and Hui meet up in the UK

This shows just how much Lai means to Beijing -- it is desperate to put the man behind bars to use him as an example. So far Lai has done nothing to violate his agreed terms of house arrest. He has even deleted his Twitter account and has not spoken to any reporter since Wednesday. So how can he continue to "wreck Hong Kong" while on bail?

There is also a news report that Hong Kong police have a list of 30 people who are overseas on suspicion of having violated the national security law. They include: former lawmakers Ted Hui Chi-fung, and Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang, and Brian Leung Ka-ping, who is currently in the United States after he and other protesters stormed the Legislative Council on July 1 last year.

Others are Nathan Law Kwun-chung, former British consulate worker Simon Cheng Man-kit, and activist Ray Wong Toi-yeung.

The police insider said these people had fled overseas to Europe, the US and Taiwan, and added if they returned to Hong Kong they would be arrested upon arrival. 

The crackdown is relentless. Life in exile is already hard, but for the Chinese authorities that isn't enough; justice must be done.