HONG KONG (AP) — Prominent Hong Kong democracy advocate and publisher Jimmy Lai has again been denied bail and is being returned to jail to await trial in in April. Lai is charged with colluding with foreign forces as defined by the sweeping National Security Law that Beijing imposed on semi-autonomous Hong Kong last year following massive anti-government protests in 2019. Arrested and charged in early December, Lai was at first denied bail then granted it on appeal under strict conditions amounting for a form of house arrest. Hong Kong then appealed following sharp criticism from Beijing, which has long regarded Lai as an anti-China troublemaker and Lai was returned to prison. His appeal Thursday was based on separate legal grounds.
