Pro-democracy Hong Kong media owner Jimmy Lai’s home raided by corruption investigators
- 9 years ago
The Hong Kong home of Next Media Chairman Jimmy Lai, an outspoken advocate of democracy for Hong Kong and owner of the Apple Daily newspapers, was raided by officials from the city’s anti-corruption body early Thursday.
Computers were also taken from the home of a Next Media executive Mark Simon during a simultaneous raid. No reason was given for the raids.
In July, the email accounts of Lai and Next Media employees were breached by hackers suspected of working for the Chinese government. Stolen emails were leaked detailing donations Lai made to pro-democracy lawmakers and members of Occupy Central, a movement agitating for greater democracy in Hong Kong.
Under Hong Kong law, donors are not required to declare to whom they make donations. It is generally understood that pro-Beijing politicians are much better funded than those critical of China. There have been no investigations into their sources of funding.
Activists are calling for universal suffrage, or the right to directly elect candidates of their choice, not merely those pre-approved by the Communist Party in Beijing.
This latest round of pressure on pro-democracy figures comes as Beijing prepares to announce the format for Hong Kong’s 2017 elections, which many fear will be limited to a small number of candidates loyal to Beijing.
Next Media websites in both Hong Kong and Taiwan have in recent months been under sustained denial of service attacks, in apparent reprisal for Lai’s support of democracy activists.
Lai is the owner of Next Media Animation, the publisher of TomoNews.
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Computers were also taken from the home of a Next Media executive Mark Simon during a simultaneous raid. No reason was given for the raids.
In July, the email accounts of Lai and Next Media employees were breached by hackers suspected of working for the Chinese government. Stolen emails were leaked detailing donations Lai made to pro-democracy lawmakers and members of Occupy Central, a movement agitating for greater democracy in Hong Kong.
Under Hong Kong law, donors are not required to declare to whom they make donations. It is generally understood that pro-Beijing politicians are much better funded than those critical of China. There have been no investigations into their sources of funding.
Activists are calling for universal suffrage, or the right to directly elect candidates of their choice, not merely those pre-approved by the Communist Party in Beijing.
This latest round of pressure on pro-democracy figures comes as Beijing prepares to announce the format for Hong Kong’s 2017 elections, which many fear will be limited to a small number of candidates loyal to Beijing.
Next Media websites in both Hong Kong and Taiwan have in recent months been under sustained denial of service attacks, in apparent reprisal for Lai’s support of democracy activists.
Lai is the owner of Next Media Animation, the publisher of TomoNews.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to TomoNews, where we animate the most entertaining news on the internets. Come here for an animated look at viral headlines, US news, celebrity gossip, salacious scandals, dumb criminals and much more! Subscribe now for daily news animations that will knock your socks off.
For news that's fun and never boring, visit our channel:
https://www.youtube.co