Apple Daily wanted an explanation for violent storming of Legco

Eunice Lam

Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying admitted that he had "rarely" requested Apple Daily to focus on young people's views when reporting on protesters storming the Legislative Council on July 1, 2019, to gain readers' support, the court heard.

Lai's national security trial continued at West Kowloon Magistrates' Court for the 94th day, with the 76-year-old defending himself for the second straight day.

Defense barrister Steven Kwan Man-wai cited evidence that Lai had asked then Apple Daily publisher Cheung Kim-hung not to follow Unites States-based media, including the New York Times and CNN, to write negative reports of then US president Donald Trump.

Lai explained that the newspaper had launched the "One Hongkonger, One Letter" campaign around May 2020 to call for Trump's intervention in Hong Kong's affairs.

Kwan cited chats between Lai and then Apple Daily associate publisher Chan Pui-man where he had asked her to focus on young people's views regarding the storming of Legco on July 1, 2019 and to call on society to sympathize with them.

Lai said it was not an "editorial instruction," but a discussion with Chan "because I thought it was a wrong thing for them to do, so they had to explain it to get understanding and sympathy from the Hong Kong people so that the [pro-democracy] movement was not damaged."

He continued to deny that he gave directions to Apple Daily's senior management on the newspaper's daily coverage claiming that they were only "suggestions" to staff.

WhatsApp chats between Lai and Chan in July 2020 showed that Lai attached a file called "Donald Trump Administrative Order" and said the newspaper should make a sanction list of those who censored and threatened Apple Daily.

But Lai said he did not write the message but copied it from Signal and forwarded it to Chan and other pro-democracy figures, including Lee Wing-tat, Wu Chi-wai, Lam Cheuk-ting and Lee Cheuk-yan via WhatsApp. "The whole text, it sounds so foreign to me. It's not the kind of language I'd use," he added.

He could not recall the source of the message but believed the sender could be Washington-related or a White House confidential document.

But national security judge Alex Lee Wan-tang questioned why Lai would forward an important document without reading it. Lai replied he had no time to read every message, adding that he had never instructed Chan or Lee Wing-tat to work on the sanction list.

Kwan went through some allegedly seditious Apple Daily articles written by Lai in April and May 2019, which were about the now-scrapped extradition bill.

The prosecution had earlier suggested the articles intended to incite hatred against the central or Hong Kong governments. But Lai denied the claim, saying he only hoped to encourage the public to come out and demonstrate.

The trial continues today.

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com