The Hong Kong pro-democracy daily Stand News announced its closure on Wednesday following the arrest of seven current and former employees and a police raid on its newsroom that illustrates the waning freedom of the press in this international business center.
“Due to the current situation, Stand News will stop operating immediately and will stop updating its website and social networks“, Which will be closed in a few days, said this digital newspaper on Facebook hours after a police operation.
More than 200 uniformed and plainclothes agents participated in the searches of the newsroom and private homes in which they seized telephones, computers, documents and more than US $ 64,000 in cash, police said.
They also arrested seven people under the crime of “conspiracy to spread a seditious publication”Included in an old British colonial law.
Stand News It is the second pro-democracy outlet to be shut down in Hong Kong after a police operation. In June, the Apple Daily, fiercely critical of Beijing, closed after freezing its assets and arresting several officials.
This second operation raises concerns about press freedom in this theoretically semi-autonomous city and regional headquarters of numerous international media, in which Beijing is expanding its control since the 2019 protests.
The Committee to Protect Journalists described the search as “an open assault on Hong Kong’s already cracked press freedom”.
The editor-in-chief of Stand News, Patrick Lam |, left the building where the newspaper’s newsroom is located in handcuffs, observed an AFP journalist.
Local media reported that those arrested also included the former editor-in-chief, Chung Pui-kuen, and four board members who resigned in June, including local pop star Denise Ho and lawyer Margaret Ng.
The police superintendent Steve Li accused the outlet of publishing articles that incited hatred against the Hong Kong government between July 2020 and November 2021, such as saying that there were protesters “missing“Or whose rights were”raped”.
“These are malicious accusations with no factual basis“Said Li, who also announced the freezing of US $ 7.8 million of assets.
The superintendent also stated that they were investigating how Stand News, funded by donations, he could afford an office in the UK and if it had other purposes such as conspiring abroad.
This branch was also closed on Wednesday, a source told AFP.
“Editorially independent”
Shortly before dawn, Stand News He warned in a direct on Facebook that the national security police were at the door of the house of the on-duty deputy editor Ronson Chan, who was not arrested.
A few hours later, the media announced on that same platform its closure, the resignation of its chief editor Patrick Lam and the dismissal of the rest of the employees.
Founded as a non-profit digital medium in 2014, Stand News was nominated for the Reporters Without Borders Freedom of the Press award in November.
“Stand News was editorially independent and dedicated to protecting Hong Kong’s core values such as democracy, human rights, freedom, and the role of law and justice.”, Assured the media in his farewell.
During the massive and often violent protests of 2019, the police clashed with several of their reporters.
After these demonstrations, Beijing increased its control over the former British colony, especially with the imposition in June 2020 of a national security law that has served as an umbrella to detain and imprison numerous opponents.
After learning about the operation, the Hong Kong Journalists Association and the Foreign Correspondents Club showed themselves “deeply concerned”And they asked for respect for freedom of the press.
Exiled activist Nathan Law tweeted that the arrests reflect the authorities’ persecution of journalists and media that “they dare to challenge them and tell the truth ”.
However, the chief secretary of Hong Kong, John Lee, noted that the individuals arrested were “evil elements that damaged the freedom of the press ”and“ bad apples that abused the position of media worker ”.
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