Hong Kong: Two Stand News journalists sentenced for ‘sedition’

The editors of the newspaper (already forced to close like the Apple Daily) Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam face up to two years in prison in a verdict expected by September. The ruling is likely to have further profound implications for press freedom in Hong Kong. For the police chief, it is proof of the ‘necessity and legality’ of the crackdown on activists and critical voices. Reporters sans Frontières: 28 journalists prosecuted since 2020.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - The Hong Kong court has convicted Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, two editors of the pro-democracy newspaper Stand News, already forced to close down like the pro-democracy daily Apple Daily founded by Jimmy Lai, who has also been jailed for this since 2020.

Both face up to two years in jail in the first trial for a similar offence against information representatives since the handover of power to China in the former British governorate in 1997.

A verdict that came yesterday and was strongly criticised by pro-rights and freedom movements, with Reporters sans Frontières (Rsf) activists appealing to local (and central Beijing) authorities to ‘stop their nefarious campaign against press freedom’.

In a written statement, District Court Judge Kwok Wai-kin said that Stand News had become a ‘danger to national security’. The newspaper's editorial line supported ‘local autonomy in Hong Kong,’ the magistrate added, calling the press organ ‘a tool to defame the central authorities [in Beijing] and the local government.

The two journalists were charged under a colonial-era sedition law - which until recently had rarely been used by prosecutors - and not, as has been the case in recent times, under the controversial National Security Act (NSL). The final verdict, with the amount of the sentence, is expected to come by September.

Stand News was among the few newly formed online newspapers that gained prominence and authority, particularly during the pro-democracy protests in 2019. However, since the introduction of the Beijing-inspired rule, several media outlets have had to close their doors.

According to critics, the law reduces the judicial autonomy of the Special Administrative Region (Ras) and has made it easier to punish protesters and activists.

One of the last pro-democracy publications to close in December 2021, the newspaper closed its doors after more than 200 police officers raided and arrested seven employees, accusing them of ‘conspiring’ with ‘sedition publications’.

Hong Kong's current leader John Lee supported the police operation at the time, calling those arrested ‘evil elements who harm press freedom’. The case attracted international scrutiny and condemnation from Western countries.

Among the first voices to comment on the condemnation was that of Steve Li, chief superintendent of the police's National Security Department, who said it was proof of the ‘necessity and legality’ of the arrests made three years ago.

Speaking to reporters outside the court, the senior officer recalled the criticism at the time of the arrest in December 2021: ‘Today, the judge's verdict... clearly illustrated the necessity and legality’ of the action ‘taken that day’.

In the global press freedom ranking published annually by Reporters sans Frontieres, Hong Kong was ranked 18th out of 180 countries and territories in 2002, but dropped to 148th in 2022.

The city's ranking is now 135, between the Philippines and South Sudan. A Press Freedom Index report released just a week before the Stand News verdict by the Hong Kong Association of Journalists showed that press freedom in the city has fallen to its lowest point since the survey began 11 years ago.

More than half of the 251 journalists who responded to the survey said press freedom had declined over the past year, and more than 90 per cent of respondents said conditions had declined overall for the fifth consecutive year.

Rsf estimates that at least 28 journalists have been prosecuted under the National Security Act of 2020 and several independent daily and weekly newspapers, including theApple Daily, have been closed down.

• Hong Kong
• Security Law