In Hong Kong, two journalists have been found guilty of sedition. They were editors-in-chief of a news portal that has since been shut down. The sentence is to be announced next month.
Setback for press freedom: In Hong Kong, a court has convicted two journalists of sedition. The former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and his deputy Patrick Lam, who worked for the pro-democracy news portal Stand News.
The judges found them guilty of “slandering and defaming” the central government authorities in Beijing and the Hong Kong government. Texts from the news portal were deemed seditious. The journalists could now face a prison sentence of up to two years. The basis for the verdict is a law from the former British colonial era.
Following the pro-democracy protests in 2019, which sometimes resulted in violent riots, the Chinese central government in Beijing implemented a so-called state security law in Hong Kong. Under this law, previously guaranteed freedoms in Hong Kong have been restricted.
Sentence to be announced in September
Pui-kuen and Lam have already spent almost a year in prison and were released on bail at the start of the trial. They were arrested in December 2021 after state security police stormed the editorial offices.
Stand News was then forced to close down – as were other media outlets in the special administrative region. Apple Daily, Citizen News and other news sites were similarly affected. They closed down out of caution, not wanting to violate laws, or due to specific allegations. Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai has been in prison for years and is also facing trial.
In the trial of the Stand News journalists, the prosecution cited as evidence numerous articles from the media outlet criticizing the curtailment of freedoms by the central government in Beijing. The sentence is expected to be announced in September.
The court’s decision was accompanied by great media interest.
NGOs criticize verdict
Criticism of the verdict comes from non-governmental organizations. Cédric Alviani, director of the Asia-Pacific office of Reporters Without Borders, warned that the verdict sets a “very dangerous precedent” for journalists. Anyone who reports on facts that do not correspond with the authorities’ official narrative could now be convicted.
Human Rights Watch also criticised the court’s decision: “Today’s verdict against the former editors of Stand News marks another milestone in the alarming erosion of basic rights in Hong Kong,” said Maya Wang, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
On Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom list, the special administrative region has slipped from 18th place to 135th place over the past two decades.
With information from ARD correspondent Eva Lamby-Schmitt from Shanghai