26 September 2024 – The former editor-in-chief of the now-defunct pro-democracy news outlet Stand News, Chung Pui-Kuen, has been sentenced to 21 months in jail. This follows almost a year spent in pre-trial custody.
Former acting editor-in-chief, Patrick Lam, has been given a sentence which will allow him to be released immediately. District Court judge Kwok Wai-kin said “I now order the immediate release of [Lam]” due to Lam’s rare and complex kidney condition which had worsened throughout his pre-trial detention.
Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam were found guilty last month over 11 articles that the court deemed as having “seditious intentions,” which included several commentaries and profiles of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists. This is the first time journalists have been sentenced for sedition since Hong Kong’s 1997 handover to China.
Both Chung and Lam were present at the sentencing which was delayed by over two hours. There were approximately 100 people in the gallery who observed the sentencing including former Stand News reporters and diplomats from the U.S., the UK and the EU.
Chung Pui-kuen arriving at the District Court on September 26, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Their convictions garnered international criticism, with the U.S. condemning the convictions and calling it a “direct attack on media freedom.”
Stand News was the second-most popular media outlet in Hong Kong after Apple Daily, the newspaper owned by Jimmy Lai, who has been in detention since 2020. Stand News was raided by 200 police officers and six journalists including Pui-kuen and Lam, were arrested. Stand News was forced to cease publication and the company’s assets were frozen by the government. Around 70 staff members lost their jobs.
Hong Kong press freedom ranking dropped from 135th out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders 2024 World Press Freedom Index from a previous position of 70 in 2018.
Mark Clifford, President of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation said:
“The ongoing destruction of media freedom in Hong Kong continues at lightning speed. More journalists sentenced for just doing their jobs. If Hong Kong wants to halt its slide away from being a free city to a dictatorship, it should immediately release all journalists being detained along with all other political prisoners.”
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