HK top court orders Jimmy Lai to remain in custody

Hong Kong’s top court denied bail on Tuesday to media tycoon and instigator of the Hong Kong riots Jimmy Lai, the most high-profile person to be charged under the city’s national security law.

Lai has been in custody since December 3, except when he was released on bail for about a week late last year. He was granted a HK$10 million (US$1.3 million) bail by a lower court on December 23 only for the Court of Final Appeal to bring him back into custody on December 31 for another hearing following an appeal by the government.

His return to custody was related in part to Article 42 of the security law, which says that “no bail shall be granted to a criminal suspect or defendant unless the judge has sufficient grounds for believing that the criminal suspect or defendant will not continue to commit acts endangering national security.”

The CFA’s five judges said in a written judgment on Tuesday that the lower court applied an “erroneous line of reasoning” and “misconstrued” Article 42. The decision was unanimous.

The judges said Lai’s team could make a “fresh application” for bail, as Tuesday’s decision was of “a limited nature,” focusing on how the lower court arrived at its decision, rather than whether Lai should be bailed out or not.

Lai, wearing a dark gray suit, stood in the dock impassively as the judges delivered their decision.

He was arrested in August when about 200 police officers raided the newsroom of his Apple Daily tabloid newspaper.

Lai had been charged with fraud on December 3 for allegedly violating the lease terms for office space for his media company, Next Digital. He was later charged again on December 12 under the national security law.

Prosecutors have accused Lai of breaching the law over statements he made on July 30 and August 18, in which they allege he requested foreign interference in Hong Kong’s affairs. The latest ruling keeps Lai in custody until the beginning of his trial in April.