‘Stand tall’: Hong Kong media tycoon writes powerful letter to staff from jail
Media mogul Jimmy Lai, founder of Apple Daily, leaves the ourt of final appeal by prison van in Hong Kong, China
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Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai has sent a message to employees urging them to “stand tall” in a handwritten letter from prison where he is being held pending trial under a new national security law.
Mr Lai was among the seven prominent pro-democracy figures who were found guilty by a court in Hong Kong earlier this month for their involvement in anti-China protests in August 2019.
On Monday 12, the media tycoon’s pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily posted a letter they claimed Mr Lai wrote to his staff by hand.
"Hong Kong’s situation is increasingly chilling, but precisely because of that, we need to love and cherish ourselves more. The era is falling apart before us and it is time for us to stand tall and keep our heads high,” said Mr Lai, whose punishment is scheduled to be announced on 16 April.
In his letter to the staff, he emphasised that defending free speech was “a dangerous job now.”
“Please be extra cautious and do not take risks. Your safety is important. As long as we are not blinded by unjust temptations, as long as we do not let the evil get its way through us, we are fulfilling our responsibility,” said Mr Lai while asking the staff to continue doing their job.
He called his life in prison peaceful while revealing that he spends his time reading books, praying and doing exercise.
Mr Lai, who was arrested in December 2020, has been an outspoken pro-democracy voice in Hong King and a staunch critic of China.
The media tycoon had even met the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to seek support for Hong Kong’s democracy movement following which Beijing had called him a “traitor.”
Hong Kong, the former British Colony, was handed back to China in 1997 on the promise that its relative autonomy would be maintained. But over the past few years, Beijing has taken a series of actions that eroded it including introducing a strict national security law.
The strict implementation of the new security law, whose emphasis is on ensuring the loyalty of Hong Kong’s government, leaders and citizens to China, has resulted in most of the city’s pro-democracy leaders and activists either being arrested and imprisoned or they have gone into exile.
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