Stand News raid: Hong Kong police charge 2 from news outlet with sedition
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said at a news conference Thursday that the arrests were not targeted at the media. Stand News, meanwhile, announced after the crackdown that it is ceasing operation.
The Hong Kong police on Thursday formally charged two people from an online pro-democracy news outlet with sedition. This comes a day after the office of Stand News was raided and seven current and former staff members were arrested.
The outlet had said after that raid that it would cease operations.
According to local media reports, the two staff members charged with sedition are Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, who were editors at Stand News. They were taken to West Kowloon court on Thursday.
Police also said they would prosecute the company for sedition.
Apart from Chung and Lam, four other former Stand News board members, including singer Denise Ho and former lawmaker Margaret Ng, were arrested on Wednesday. Ho was released from police custody on Thursday afternoon.
The raids were carried out under a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing in Hong Kong last year. The ordinance dates from Hong Kong’s days as a British colony before 1997, when it was returned to China. Many pro-democracy groups have been dissolved, journalists arrested and some media outlets (Apple Daily) shut down since the imposition of the law.
Those convicted after the latest raid on Wednesday could face up to two years in prison and a fine of up to 5,000 Hong Kong dollars ($640).
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said at a news conference Thursday that the arrests were not targeted at the media.
“Journalism is not sedition, but seditious acts and activities and inciting other people through other acts and activities could not be condoned under the guise of news reporting,” she said.
“It should be very clear what is reporting of news, and what is seditious acts or activities to undermine national security.”
The police have accused Stand News of publishing articles that incited hatred towards the Hong Kong government between July 2020 and November 2021, which included news reports and blog posts.
"They described Hong Kong protesters as 'being disappeared' and 'violated'... These are malicious allegations without any factual basis," Steve Li, senior superintendent of the national security police, told a press conference on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, announcing its closure, Stand News thanked its readers, saying it was established as a non-profit in December 2014 to "take a stand in Hong Kong".
