Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai denies asking protesters to connect with ‘international front’

Former Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying enters his sixth day of his testimony on Thursday at West Kowloon Court as the judges look at his meetings with one of the prosecution witnesses in relation to his national security law charges.

Lai, 76, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the 2020 security law, as well as a third count of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications in breach of colonial-era legislation.

On Wednesday, the fifth day of the ex-mogul’s oral testimony, the court read from an Apple Daily article which said Lai had suggested the United States sanction mainland Chinese and Hong Kong officials who had suppressed the 2019 protest movement in a meeting with former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.

Lai said there was “no reason to doubt the accuracy” of the article but he did not recall mentioning sanctions in the meeting.

Lai said he had no knowledge of the lobbying group “Fight For Freedom, Stand With Hong Kong” (SWHK), in which prosecution witness Andy Li Yu-hin was a core member.

Despite having hashtags that read “Stand With Hong Kong” on his social media posts, he said his staff had added the wordings for him and it did not refer to the group.