page_title: Jimmy Lai
section_title: Political activity in Hong Kong
hierarchical_section_title: Jimmy Lai / Political activity in Hong Kong
caption_attribution_description: English: Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, founder of Giordano International Limited and Next Media Limited
context_page_description: Lai Chee-Ying, known professionally as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong entrepreneur and. He founded Giordano, an Asian clothing retailer, Next Digital, a Hong Kong-listed media company, and popular newspaper Apple Daily. He is one of the main contributors to the pro-democracy camp, especially to the Democratic Party. Although he is known as a Hong Kong political figure, he has been a UK national since 1996
  A prominent critic of the PRC government, Lai was arrested on 10 August 2020 by the Hong Kong police on "charges of violating the territory's new national security law", an action which prompted widespread criticism. He is also facing charge of threatening a reporter from Oriental Daily after he took photos of Lai at the annual Tiananmen Square vigil in 2017. On 25 August 2020, Hong Kong court rules evidence sufficient in the case
context_section_description: Lai is a longtime champion of the pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong. According to Lai, his reading of The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek inspired him to fight for the pursuit of freedom. His advocacy had been expressed through his business ventures, such as distributing Giordano t-shirts with portraits of student leaders. His high-profile support for the pro-democracy movements came under strong condemnation from the Chinese government. 
  On 13 December 2014, Lai was one of the pro-democracy leaders arrested during the clearance of the Admiralty protest site of the Umbrella Movement. On the following day, Lai announced he would step down as head of Next Media "to spend more time with his family and further pursue his personal interests."
  Lai had been the target of hostile attacks and disturbances, including machetes, axes and threatening messages left in his driveway. He had been rammed by a car, and his home was firebombed several times, most recently in 2019. Next Media spokesman Mark Simon condemned these attacks and stated, "This is a continual effort to intimidate the press in Hong Kong. This is raw and pure intimidation." Some activists felt that the Hong Kong Police Force and the Hong Kong government, which had been Chinese-controlled since the handover in 1997, did not always follow up on these misconducts against Lai, and that culprits are rarely found.
  During the early hours of 12 January 2015, two masked men hurled petrol bombs at Lai's home on Kadoorie Avenue in Kowloon Tong. At the same time, a petrol bomb was thrown at the Next Media headquarters in Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate. The fires were extinguished by security guards. The perpetrators fled and two cars used in the attacks were found torched in Shek Kip Mei and Cheung Sha Wan. The crimes were denounced as an "attack on press freedom".
  On 28 February 2020, Lai was arrested for illegal assembly during his attendance in the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. He also faced one charge of intimidation using foul language towards a reporter in 2017. His case was scheduled to be heard at Eastern Law Court on 5 May. On 18 April, Lai was among the 15 high-profile democracy figures arrested in Hong Kong. According to a police statement, his arrest was based on suspicion of organizing, publicizing or taking part in several unauthorized assemblies between August and October 2019.
caption: Lai and Martin Lee at 1 July marches, 2013
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 600D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2013:07:01 03:27:53", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "348", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "8916", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "18576", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:07:01 03:27:53", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:07:01 03:27:53", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "5", "EXIF ApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "20", "EXIF SubSecTime": "32", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "32", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "32", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5184", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3456", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "8598", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1036800/181", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "691200/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "178066134667", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[18, 135, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "0000216fa4"}