pro-democracy Hong Kong activist Lai denies inciting hatred against China in trial

Pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai said yesterday he was against violence and had not sought to incite hatred against China and Hong Kong authorities by calling for protests to defend basic rights, speaking on his second day of testimony in a landmark national security trial.

- JAMES POMFRET and JESSIE PANG

Mr Lai, 76, a British and Hong Kong citizen and a founder of the now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, is considered one of the most high-profile prisoners under a national security law imposed by China in June 2020. He is testifying in the same week a Hong Kong court sentenced 45 leading democracy activists to jail terms of up to 10 years under the same law.

Under questioning, Mr Lai was asked about three articles, including one he wrote in 2019 in which he warned that if an extradition law was passed, another “June 4th massacre” could happen in Hong Kong – referring to the killings by Chinese soldiers of demonstrators in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.

The media mogul told the court he had feared Hong Kong’s rule of law would be compromised if a proposed law allowing extraditions to mainland China were enacted, and so called on people to come out and protest.