HONG KONG (Reuters) – Police officers from Hong Kong’s National Security Department on Monday arrested Allan Au, a veteran journalist and former contributor to the now-closed liberal media outlet Stand News, on suspicion of sedition, police and media said local.
Amid a media crackdown based on a British colonial-era sedition law, as well as national security legislation imposed by China, several major media outlets have been raided by police and shut down.
Local police said in a statement that the National Security Department arrested a 54-year-old man for “conspiracy to disseminate seditious publications” and placed him in custody pending further investigation.
Local media identified the man as Allan Au, a journalist and academic, who wrote articles for newspapers such as Ming Pao and Apple Daily, which closed in June 2021.
Reuters was unable to immediately reach Allan Au for comment.
The sedition charge is not among the offenses listed in the sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing in June 2020.
However, court rulings in recent months have allowed authorities to use the powers granted by the new legislation to enforce colonial-era laws, allowing the inclusion of sedition.
Asked about Allan Au’s arrest, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam told a press conference that she would not comment on individual cases, but that freedom of the press was enshrined in the city’s mini-constitution, called the Basic Law.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association expressed “deep concern” and said the arrest risked “further undermining press freedom in Hong Kong”.
(Reporting Jessie Pang, French version Augustin Turpin; editing by Kate Entringer)
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