Hong Kong sentences two journalists linked to pro-democracy activism for "sedition" for the first time
These are the first sentences of their kind and come after the local parliament approved tougher penalties against the pro-democracy movement, which opposes reconciliation with mainland China.
Chung Pui-kuen, one of the journalists convicted of sedition in Hong Kong.
A Hong Kong court on Thursday found two journalists from the now-defunct Stand News and their publishing company guilty of "sedition" for providing favorable coverage of the 2019 pro-democracy movement.
This is the first "sedition" conviction handed down in Hong Kong since the former British colony was returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. Judge Kwok Wai-kin found journalists Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam guilty of "conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious content."
The company Best Pencil Limited, publisher of the news website, met the same fate. "The line taken (by Stand News) was to support and promote local autonomy in Hong Kong," Kwok Wai-kin wrote in his verdict.
"It even became a tool of defamation and denigration of the central authorities and the government of the Hong Kong special administrative region," he added.
Stand News, a popular news outlet founded in 2014 that covered the 2019 pro-democracy movement in great detail and often favorably, shut down in 2021 after police raided its offices, detained its executives and froze its assets.
Lam, 36, and Chung, 54, were released on bail pending a full sentence on Sept. 26. They face a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment under a law from 1938.
Patrick Lam was unable to attend the hearing because of health problems. The crime of "sedition," which dates back to colonial times and had fallen into disuse, is increasingly used by the Hong Kong judiciary to crack down on dissent.
"Today's decision is proof that Hong Kong is sinking deeper and deeper into authoritarianism and that not toeing the official line can land anyone in jail," reckoned Beh Lih Yi of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
More than 100 people lined up outside the court to hear the ruling. Lau Yan-hin, a former employee of Stand News, said this trial is a "blanket attack" on the media.
The hearing was also attended by representatives of several consulates, including those of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the European Union and Australia.
Following the ruling, the EU estimated that the space for freedom of the press in Hong Kong is "shrinking." The former British colony went from 18th to 135th in the Reporters Without Borders world press freedom ranking in just 20 years.
Article 23 to prosecute activists
Article 23 allows Hong Kong to "effectively prevent, prohibit and punish espionage activities, plots and traps by foreign intelligence services, infiltration and sabotage carried out by hostile forces," John Lee added. The Hong Kong leader was tasked with overseeing the 2020 protests as the island's security secretary until 2021.
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