Published: 10:55am, 1 May 2026Updated: 3:30pm, 1 May 2026Hong Kong authorities have condemned attempts by anti-China forces and foreign media to sugarcoat the criminal acts of jailed former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, while defending the city’s press freedom after the release of a global index.Authorities issued a strongly-worded statement in the early hours of Friday, slamming the attempts to slander, smear and attack the city “by releasing a so-called press freedom index”, saying that “such despicable behaviours totally disregarded the rule of law and twisted the facts”.“Some media organisations and organisations that claim to represent journalists have conflated the...