In Hong Kong, six members of news site arrested for ‘seditious publication’

Hong Kong authorities arrested six current and former members of the local media on Wednesday, December 29. stand news, accused of “Publication of discord” Under a law dating back to the colonial era.

The arrests come amid the international community’s concern about press freedom in the city, which was undermined by the Beijing-led takeover after pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Police said more than 200 uniformed and plain-clothes officers were deployed to search the publishing office in Kwun Tong District. It said in a statement that it had arrested three men and three women, aged between 34 and 73, and that searches were taking place in their homes.

A journalist from Agence France-Presse met the editor-in-chief of the newspaper stand news, Patrick Lam, handcuffed inside media offices.

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a little before dawn, stand news Announced live on Facebook that the NSP was at the door of Deputy Editor-in-Chief Ronson Chan. In the short video clip, officers inform Mr. Chan that he is in possession of an injunction to investigate the charges against him “Conspiracy to publish a seditious publication”and that Mr. Chan had to stop filming. Ronson Chan, who is also the head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, has been ordered to cooperate with investigators, but he is not among those arrested.

Cantonese pop star Denise Ho, who served on the board of stand news But she resigned in June, and was also arrested, according to her Facebook page. As well as Margaret Ng, a lawyer and former member of the local legislature, and Chung Boy Quinn, former editor-in-chief of the magazine stand news, according to local media.

stand news It is the second press company in Hong Kong to find itself in the crosshairs of the authorities. In June, the pro-democracy magazine Apple Daily It closed its doors after its assets were frozen and its key leaders arrested under a drastic new national security law imposed by Beijing in July 2020. This law is not retroactive, Hong Kong authorities have sometimes invoked a colonial order in “sedition”, which dates back to 1938 and has not been used for years, to suppress dissent.