HONG KONG: A Hong Kong court on Thursday (Aug 29) found two editors of the now-defunct Stand News media outlet guilty of conspiring to publish seditious articles in a case that has drawn international scrutiny amid a security crackdown in the China-ruled city.
The two editors, Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, could be jailed for up to two years when they are sentenced on Sep 26. Their conviction is the first for sedition against any journalist or editor since Hong Kong’s handover from Britain to China in 1997.
Critics, including the United States government, say their case reflects deteriorating media freedoms in the city.
Stand News, once Hong Kong’s leading online media with a mix of critical reportage and commentary, was raided by police in December 2021, and had its assets frozen, leading to its closure.
Chung, 54, Lam, 36, and the outlet’s parent company Best Pencil (Hong Kong) Ltd were all charged with conspiracy to publish seditious publications in connection with 17 news articles and commentaries between July 2020 and December 2021.
Chung and Lam had pleaded not guilty, with only Chung present in court on Thursday for the verdict. He edited or authorised most of the articles that the court found to be seditious.
“When speech is assessed as having seditious intent, the relevant actual circumstances must have been taken into consideration, being viewed as causing potential damage to national security, (and) must be stopped,” wrote district Court Judge Kwok Wai-kin.
During the 57-day trial, government prosecutor Laura Ng said Stand News had acted as a political platform to promote “illegal” ideologies and incited readers’ hatred against the Chinese and Hong Kong governments.
The articles deemed seditious by the court included commentaries written by exiled activists Nathan Law and Sunny Cheung, veteran journalist Allan Au, jailed former Apple Daily associate publisher and Chung’s wife Chan Pui-man.
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