In September, the Hong Kong executive requested the dissolution of the company managing this opposition media, considering this measure “timely in the general interest”.
Le Monde
Forced to stop appearing at the end of June 2021, the shot in the Apple Daily newspaper is that time fatal: a Hongkong court ordered, Wednesday, December 15, the liquidation of the parent company of the fiercely proto media.
His assets had been frozen by the authorities on behalf of the drastic law on national security promulgated last year by Beijing to muzzle any dissent. Its owner, the Jimmy Lai press magnat and several journalists and executives of this publication are currently in detention, accused of collusion with foreign powers as a result of articles and editorials published by the daily. They incur perpetuity.
In September, the Hong Kong executive requested the dissolution of the Journal’s parent company, Next Digital Limited, estimating this measure “timely in the general interest”. Wednesday, after a brief audience, a magistrate within the High Court, Jack Wong, accessed the government’s request.
The Taiwanese edition would be in financial difficulty
It is still impossible to know the consequences of the Tribunal’s decision for the Taiwanese edition of the Apple Daily, always operational as a financially independent subsidiary. The Bloomberg News Agency said it is short of cash and put the key under the door before the end of the year. Apple Daily Taiwan has described this “speculation” information without making any other comments.
m. LAI, 74 years old, already serves imprisonment sentences for participating in proprietary events in recent years. Monday, he was sentenced to thirteen months of additional prison for participating in 2020 at a rally forbidden by the authorities, because of the health restrictions against COVID-19, to commemorate the repression of Tiananmen Square.
The Hong Kong authorities have taken steps to restrict the freedom of the press in the previously semi-autonomous territory after the immense events of 2019. In early December, Jimmy Lai and the staff of his daily pro-democracy received the “Golden feather”, a prestigious press freedom price awarded by the World Journals and Publishers Association (WAN-IFRA). The latter greeted the newspaper, seeing a “symbol of prékemocracy and dissent”.