The arrest itself was actually "motivated" by what they referred to as unauthorised assembly during the pro-democracy protests. This 73 year old man went somewhere he shouldn't have, and clearly threatened the mighty CCP enough to warrant 20 months in prison in the process. Additional charges up to life are being stacked on top following from the "security law" meant to silence pro-democracy voices in Hong Kong, but as far as I know these charges have not been made public. His newspaper was published daily though, so the nature of his crime was quite public if you're really interested.

Here's a BBC story on the history of the newspaper.

I'm sorry I couldn't find anything published by Xinhua News Agency, I have a feeling you might have appreciated that more.

[+] umbrella@lemmy.ml -8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Still nothing about what prompted the authorities over there to deem it as a national security threat, just vague mentions of a national security law while admitting criticising the government is not actually forbidden if you don't abuse it. Jan. 6 protesters in the US were "pro-democracy" too, and so are both sides in the ukranian war. What did he actually say in those publications that prompted this arrest?

Am I just insane for to know a key fact about it before making my judgement of what happened?

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Authoritarians often give vague or even contradictory justifications for arresting people. Apple Daily was promoting democracy in Hong Kong which was enough for him to be made an example of.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Democracy is a vague word that can mean different things. Both US and China call themselves democracies. Tell me what those justifications actually are and I can judge for myself instead of just believing whatever I'm told.