Jimmy Lai prosecutors raise Trump’s praise of media mogul during sedition trial

Prosecutors in Hong Kong raised former US president Donald Trump's praise of Jimmy Lai during the pro-democracy media mogul's trial on Monday.

Mr Lai, the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, is facing charges under the Chinese city’s new national security laws, including foreign collusion.

As part of their case, lead prosecutor Ivan Cheung presented to the court tweets and Apple Daily reports from 2020 that were published following Mr Lai’s arrest.

Mr Trump, then serving as the 45th US president, called Mr Lai a "brave man" in the wake of his arrest under the Beijing-imposed security law for alleged collusion with foreign powers.

The prosecutor showed the West Kowloon Court an article which read: "[Lai] thanked Trump on Twitter, stating that Hong Kong could not be successful without freedom, and could no longer be an international financial centre.”

Apple Daily reported the next day “Trump: Jimmy Lai is a brave man”, citing Mr Lai’s tweet thanking Trump, the prosecutor said.

Chan Pui-man, a former associate publisher with Apple Daily, said the news was covered as Mr Trump had "publicly praised Lai in a press conference, which many foreign media outlets reported".

Ms Chan was testifying as a prosecution witness after pleading guilty to conspiring to collude with foreign forces.

The 76-year-old UK citizen is facing the prospect of life in prison if found guilty of sedition and collusion charges brought against him under the draconian national security laws. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The prosecutor argued that Mr Lai steered staff at the publication to highlight a report on a potential list of Hong Kong and mainland China officials facing American sanctions. The court was shown WhatsApp messaging records in July 2020 when Mr Lai asked Ms Chan to come up with a list of potential sanction targets.

Ms Chan said the publication did not propose any names for sanctions but framed a report consistent with Mr Lai’s views on the issue. Mr Lai was "very concerned about who would be on the sanctions list”, she said.

“He, in his wording, asked us to ‘suggest’ names, if I remember correctly," she continued.

“But I soon realised we could not possibly suggest names. However, the Bloomberg report said it had understood these names [would appear on the list], and it’s okay for us to cite Bloomberg.”

Ms Chan said the editorial staff at the publication did not change their angle of reportage even after Mr Lai’s arrest and remand in custody in December that year.

Ms Chan is one of the six former Apple Daily staff to plead guilty in November 2022 to conspiracy to commit collusion with a foreign country.

Mr Lai’s closely monitored trial at the West Kowloon Court is expected to last nearly 80 days and well into March. The proceedings have been condemned by both the UK and the US as an "attempt to stop the peaceful exercise of [Mr Lai’s] rights to freedom of expression and association".

Experts from the UN last month called on China to drop all charges against Mr Lai and release him immediately.

We are alarmed by the multiple and serious violations of Jimmy Lai’s freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association, and his right to a fair trial, including the denial of access to a lawyer of his own choosing and the handpicking of judges by the authorities,” the experts added.