Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai sent back to jail after challenge to bail

Hong Kong's pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai was ordered back to jail on Thursday as Hong Kong's highest court upheld prosecutors' appeal against his bail. Jimmy Lai is one of the most prominent Beijing critic from Hong Kong who has been booked under the new National Security Law. The law was passed by China and imposed on the financial hub in June this year.

73-year-old Jimmy Lai served 20 days in custody before being granted bail last Wednesday on stringent conditions. These included a USD 1.3 million bond and surrender if all travel documents. He was placed under house arrest and even banned from tweeting.

However, Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal granted permission for the prosecution to appeal the bail decision. The prosecution said that a lower judge may "have erred in his construction or application" of Article 42 in the new legislation.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

That article states that bail should not be granted unless the judge sees sufficient grounds to believe the defendant will not commit the alleged offence again.

"We have held that it is reasonably arguable that the Judge's decision was erroneous and that his order admitting the respondent to bail was invalid," a determination handed down by the Court of Final Appeal read.
It also granted the prosecution's application for Lai to be held in custody pending the appeal, to be heard on February 1.

Jimmy Lai has been accused by the authorities of colluding with foreign countries by calling on overseas governments to sanction Hong Kong and China in response to an ongoing crackdown on pro-democracy activism in the city.
More than 1,000 of his tweets and a number of media interviews he gave have been examined by the prosecution.

Lai was the first defendant charged under the security law to be granted bail, but prosecutors rushed to the top court for an urgent hearing applying for leave to appeal the decision.

China's top party mouthpiece People's Daily had criticised the bail decision for "damaging Hong Kong's rule of law".

China's authoritarian leaders guaranteed Hong Kong would maintain key freedoms and autonomy after its 1997 handover by Britain, under a model dubbed "One Country, Two Systems".

But a historic retreat from that promise is underway, in response to recent years' unrest.

(With AFP inputs)