The Railroading of Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai Continues

The Chinese Communist Party is desperate to keep Mr. Lai, 74, in jail. A successful entrepreneur, Mr. Lai jumped into media after the 1989 Tiananmen Square killings catalyzed his interest in politics. Apple Daily became the most important pro-democracy voice in Hong Kong, and it remained so even after Mr. Lai was jailed in December 2020.

Under a sweeping national-security law imposed by Beijing, the Hong Kong government froze Apple Daily’s bank accounts, without any court order or review, forcing the shutdown of its news operations in June 2021. Hong Kong authorities also charged Mr. Lai with national-security law violations and arrested six senior staffers, including Apple Daily’s chief executive officer and editor in chief. All members of the Apple Daily Seven remain in jail, denied bail, more than a year later.

The lease violation Mr. Lai is accused of committing has always been a civil—not criminal—matter in Hong Kong. Mr. Lai’s original jailing in December 2020 came after a judge revoked bail when prosecutors argued that he should be locked up to keep him from reoffending. As if, once sprung, Mr. Lai would do something really dangerous, like sign a lease for a flower stall and instead open a coffee shop.

The fraud case would be laughable if it hadn’t resulted in Mr. Lai’s imprisonment. After bail was revoked, a judge found Mr. Lai guilty on a pair of civil disobedience charges and sentenced him to 14 months in prison. A conviction for inciting a riot came after Mr. Lai silently lit a candle to commemorate the Tiananmen Square killings.

Mr. Lai would have been eligible for release next week after serving the civil-disobedience sentences, but the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t want him to go free. It wants to destroy him and other critics.

A judge, not a jury, is trying Mr. Lai’s fraud case. Similarly, a panel of three dedicated national-security judges will hear Mr. Lai’s upcoming trial, slated for December, on charges that he “colluded” with foreign forces. According to court documents filed by Hong Kong authorities, Mr. Lai and others must be denied jury trials because there is a “risk of perverting the course of justice if the trial is conducted with a jury”—in other words, they could be found not guilty by their peers.

Any person or company doing business in Hong Kong should take note: Juries in criminal cases there are no longer guaranteed. Property rights are also no longer guaranteed to get judicial review, as the forced liquidation of Next Media and the shuttering of Apple Daily without court involvement demonstrated.

Mr. Lai’s treatment is extreme but not unique. The six Apple Daily employees jailed in mid-2021 have all said they will plead guilty, entitling them to reduced sentences. No sentencing date has been set. The government holds them hostage to Mr. Lai’s upcoming national-security-law trial. Scores of others are being held indefinitely awaiting their nonjury trials. Most of the 47 defendants arrested in January 2021 because of their involvement in an election primary remain in jail.

It isn’t clear whom Mr. Lai is alleged to have defrauded or how. Given that the Basic Law governing Hong Kong promises a free press and freedom of speech, the legal vendetta against him is a massive fraud against the Hong Kong people. It has deprived them of their right to read the news.

Mr. Clifford is president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong. Mr. Crovitz is a former publisher of the Journal. Both were independent nonexecutive directors of Next Digital.