29 August 2024 – Today in Hong Kong, two former editors, Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, of the now defunct pro-democracy news outlet, Stand News, were found guilty of sedition. This is the first time journalists have been convicted of sedition since Hong Kong's 1997 handover to China. This signals a further crackdown on press freedom under Beijing's rule.
The prosecution presented 17 news articles which were published by Stand News as evidence of sedition, arguing that they sought to incite hatred against the Hong Kong authorities and that they were promoting “radical political ideologies” and attempting to incite hatred against the Beijing-imposed National Security Law. Of the 17 news articles, 11 were found to be ‘seditious’.
Chung and Lam pleaded not guilty to taking part in a conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious materials, during a trial that began in October 2022.
In his mitigation statement, Patrick Lam said “journalists have no allegiance, support or antagonism. If we really have someone to be loyal to, it is the public and it can only be the pubic. Because we believe in freedom of the press and freedom of speech, and only the freedom to spread ideas can protect everyone’s freedom.”
They face up to two years in jail for the sedition offence, which previously fell under the city’s colonial-era Crimes Ordinance but has been replaced by new security legislation enacted in March that raises the maximum penalty for sedition to up to 10 years in jail. They are due to be sentenced on 26 September. This ruling follows a series of delays in the trial after the pair were originally arrested in 2021, a tactic increasingly seen in the city’s national security cases.
In December 2021, Stand News Board Members, Denise Ho and Margaret Ng, were also arrested on suspicion of conspiring to publish seditious materials. They have been released on bail and are awaiting trial.
These convictions come amidst a broader suppression of news outlets critical of the Hong Kong and Chinese governments. In 2021, the pro-democracy news outlet, Apple Daily, along with its parent company, Next Digital, was raided and forcibly shut down after its bank accounts were frozen. Stand News was similarly targeted later that same year.
This outcome also casts a shadow over the ongoing trial of prominent pro-democracy media owner Jimmy Lai, who faces his own sedition charges. Lai, who has similarly faced a series of trial delays, is set to have his defence return to court on November 20th.
Mark Clifford, President of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation said:
“This is another grim milestone for press freedom in Hong Kong. Today's verdict represents a significant blow to the already declining state of press freedom. The message from the Hong Kong authorities is unequivocal: tow the government line or face imprisonment.
“It is a weak and insecure government indeed, if it needs to jail journalists, shut newspapers, close media outlets and prosecute people for doing their jobs. Journalism is not a crime, and these two media leaders should be immediately released along with the more than 1,800 other political prisoners in Hong Kong.”
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