HK Affairs Office demands severe punishment for Jimmy Lai and others

The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office has welcomed the arrest of the pro-democracy media mogul, Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, and others under the national security law, RTHK reports.

In a statement, it called for people who had colluded with foreign forces and harmed national security to be severely punished.

The office said Lai was one such figure. It accused him of planning and organizing illegal protests, using his media platforms to spread rumours and to incite violence, and of providing financial support for anti-China and pro-independence forces.

The office said Lai must be punished under the rule of law, and his arrest showed that justice may be late but never absent.

Earlier, the police said they had arrested nine people in an operation under the national security law. Lai, who is the founder of Apple Daily, was among the first to be picked up on Monday morning.

About 200 officers raided the newspaper's headquarters in Tseung Kwan O, taking away 25 boxes of material as evidence.

The other people arrested are understood to include executives of Next Media and Lai's two sons. They are suspected of offences that include colluding with foreign forces, which has a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.