HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong courts on Thursday refused the release on bail of two officials of the pro-democracy media, Stand News, accused of sedition, the day after the arrest of seven members of the news site.
On Wednesday, some 200 police officers raided the offices of Stand News, whose assets were frozen, and arrested seven of its members for “seditious publication”. The news site has since announced the cessation of its activities.
According to the indictment, former Stand News editor Chung Pui-kuen and acting editor Patrick Lam were indicted, along with Best Pencil Limited – the company behind Stand News – for conspiring to “distribute and / or reproduce public publications”.
West Kowloon court dismissed a bail application for the two men.
Four other members – former parliamentarian and lawyer Margaret Ng, pop star Denise Ho, Chow Tat-chi and Christine Fang – have been released under judicial supervision pending further investigation.
Chung Pui-kuen’s wife Chan Pui-man, former editor-in-chief of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, is the seventh member questioned. Her arrest was served on her in prison where she is already being held on several counts.
Reuters was unable to reach Best Pencil, nor any of the seven people arrested on Wednesday – including Chung’s wife – nor their legal representatives.
The Hong Kong executive defended the police operation.
“These acts have nothing to do with a so-called suppression of the freedom of the press”, declared the chief executive Carrie Lam, during a press conference.
“Journalism is not seditious, but seditious activities cannot be endorsed under the guise of reporting,” she added.
This raid is the latest episode of the crackdown targeting independent media in the Chinese administrative region.
Stand News, founded in 2014, has been Hong Kong’s last major pro-democracy media outlet since the Apple Daily tabled shutdown last June, controlled by businessman Jimmy Lai, who is in prison.
France, through the voice of its Minister of Foreign Affairs, expressed its concern over “these developments, which follow the disappearance of the Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily this summer and the conviction of its founder Jimmy Lai.”
It calls “for the respect of the principle of ‘one country, two systems’ and of the Basic Law of Hong Kong, which guarantees the high degree of autonomy of the territory and the respect of fundamental freedoms”.
(Report Clare Jim, edited by Marius Zaharia; French version Camille Raynaud and Dina Kartit, said by Sophie Louet)
by Clare Jim and Sara Cheng