A Hong Kong court convicted two former editors of a shuttered newspaper on Thursday, in a rebellion case widely seen as a barometer for the future of media freedoms in the city once hailed as Asia’s bastion of a free press.
Former Stand News editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam were arrested in December 2021. They pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious publications. Their trial was the first media involving Hong Kong since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Stand News was one of the last media outlets in the city to openly criticize the government amid a crackdown on dissent that followed mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.
It was shut down just months after the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, whose jailed founder Jimmy Lai is fighting collusion charges under a sweeping national security law passed in 2020.
Chung and Lam were charged under a colonial-era sedition law that has been increasingly used to crack down on dissidents. They face up to two years in prison and a fine of 5,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $640) for a first offense.
Best Pencil (Hong Kong) Ltd., the company holding the plug, was convicted on the same charge. She was unrepresented during the trial, which began in October 2022.
Judge Kwok Wai-kin said in his written judgment that ‘Stand News’ became a tool to smear the governments of Beijing and Hong Kong during the 2019 protests.
He said a punishment is considered proportionate “when the speech, in the relevant context, is considered to have caused potential harm to national security and is intended to seriously undermine the authority of the Chinese central government or the Hong Kong government, and that it should be stopped.”
The case centered on 17 articles. Prosecutors said some promoted “illegal ideologies” or tainted security law and law enforcement officers. Judge Kwok ruled that 11 had seditious intent, including comments written by activist Nathan Law and respected journalists Allan Au and Chan Pui-man.
Chan is also Chung’s wife. The judge found the other six did not, including interviews with former pro-democracy lawmakers Law and Ted Hui, who are among overseas-based activists targeted by Hong Kong police bounties.
Chung appeared calm after the verdict while Lam did not appear in court due to health reasons. They were released on bail pending sentencing on September 26.
Defense lawyer Audrey Eu read a mitigating statement from Lam, who said Stand News journalists sought to run a newspaper with completely independent editorial standards. “The only way for journalists to protect press freedom is to report,” Eu quoted Lam as saying.
The EU did not read Chung’s mitigation letter to the court. But local media quoted his letter, in which he wrote that many Hong Kongers who are not journalists have stuck to their beliefs and some have lost their freedom because they care about the freedom of everyone in the community.
“Recording and accurately reporting their stories and opinions is an inescapable responsibility of journalists,” he wrote in that letter.
After the verdict, former Stand News reporter Ronson Chan told reporters that no one had told the reporters that they could be arrested if they did any interviews or wrote anything.
The delivery of the verdict was delayed several times for several reasons, including awaiting the outcome of the appeal of another landmark mutiny case. Dozens of residents and journalists lined up to secure a seat for the hearing, which started an hour late.
Resident Kevin Ng, who was among the first in line, said he used to be a Stand News reader and followed the trial. Ng, 28, said he read less news after its closure, feeling the city has lost some critical voices.
“They reported the truth, they defended the freedom of the press,” Ng, who works in the risk management industry, told editors.
Stand News closed in December 2021, following a high-profile police raid on its office and arrests. Armed with a warrant to seize relevant journalistic materials, more than 200 officers took part in the operation.
Days after Stand News closed, independent news outlet Citizen News also announced it would cease operations, citing a deteriorating media environment and potential risks to its staff.
Hong Kong was ranked 135 out of 180 territories in Reporters Without Borders’ latest World Press Freedom Index, up from 80 in 2021. Self-censorship has also become more prominent during the political crackdown on dissent. In March, the city government passed another new security law that many journalists worried could further restrict press freedom.
Reporters Without Borders condemned the guilty verdict in a statement, saying it set a dangerous precedent and struck another blow against the city’s “oppressed freedom”.
Eric Lai, a scholar at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said the ruling is in line with the “anti-free speech trend” of rulings since the 2020 security law went into effect, criminalizing journalists carrying out their professional duties.
But Steve Li, chief inspector of the police’s national security department, told reporters the decision showed their implementation three years ago — criticized by some as a crackdown on the free press — was necessary.
Hong Kong’s government insists the city still enjoys press freedom, as guaranteed by its mini-constitution.
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