'English Apple Daily used to seek foreign support'
Prosecutors in the trial of former media tycoon Jimmy Lai on Wednesday told the court that introducing an English edition of Apple Daily ahead of the promulgation of the national security law in 2020 was intended to garner financial and political support from outside of Hong Kong and to lobby for foreign sanctions on Chinese and SAR officials. The prosecution also alleged that some articles published by the now-defunct outlet founded by Lai were intended to promote hatred against officials and call for "resistance" against the central and Hong Kong governments. Lai had earlier pleaded not guilty to three conspiracy charges relating to collusion with foreign forces and sedition. According to messaging records shown in court on Wednesday, Lai had opened a WhatsApp group with senior management on operating Apple Daily’s English edition in 2020.  In the group, Lai had said the paper was not “trying to strike a balance” and directed staff to focus on “the people on the side of protecting Hong Kong”, prosecutors said. The court heard that Lai had hoped to target foreign readers, particularly in the United States, for what he saw as financial support and "political protection". Government prosecutor Anthony Chau alleged the defendant had instructed former CEO of Next Digital, Cheung Kim-hung, to remind colleagues responsible for international news not to follow The New York Times and CNN in "targeting" then-US president Donald Trump, while proposing a campaign for readers to write to the American leader about Hong Kong. Prosecutors also said 31 of the 161 articles published by Apple Daily deemed seditious relate to collusion and sedition charges Lai faces, while the rest relate only to the sedition charge. Presenting in court a number of Apple Daily articles between 2019 and 2020, Chau alleged that seditious statements were made against the mainland and SAR governments in relation to the extradition bill and the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as “the regime and political order on a wider and more general basis”.  Prosecutors also said Apple Daily donated HK$300,000 in proceeds from digital subscription to a fund run by the now-defunct Civil Human Rights Front. The prosecution will continue to present its opening arguments.