Wed 29 December 2021:
According to Hong Kong police, six people from an independent news organization were arrested for “conspiracy to print seditious publications.”
Employees of Stand News, both current and former, were among those targeted.
More than 200 cops were dispatched to the publication’s headquarters, where the search is still underway.
According to police, they were given permission to “examine and seize relevant journalistic materials,” according to a statement.
Four former board members, including Hong Kong pop diva Denise Ho, attorney Margaret Ng, Christine Fang, and Chow Tat-chi, were also arrested, according to local media reports.
She confirmed that she had been arrested on the same charge and taken to the Western District Police Station in a Facebook post.
Separately, police said they had arrested three men and three women, aged 34 to 73, without naming them, for “conspiracy to publish seditious publications”.
According to news reports, Patrick Lam, the chief editor of Stand News, was among those who were arrested. Lam was reportedly arrested by police in his home and several gadgets were also confiscated from him.
The news site posted a video of police arriving at Chan’s residence and showing their court warrant.
And last Facebook post pic.twitter.com/JhexXa0ibE
— Galileo Cheng (@galileocheng) December 29, 2021
Stand News is the second Hong Kong media company to be targeted by the government, following Apple Daily, which shut down in June after its assets were frozen under the national security law.
Hong Kong authorities have repeatedly chastised Stand News, with security chief Chris Tang condemning it this month for publishing “biased, disparaging, and demonizing” jail conditions reports.
The city has long been a regional media hub, but as Beijing asserts greater control over the city, it has fallen in recent years in press freedom rankings.
The arrests, according to exiled activist Nathan Law, highlight the government’s harassment of journalists and the media who “dare to oppose them and express the truth.”
Sunny Cheung, a well-known activist who is currently seeking asylum in the United States, believes Beijing is suffocating any form of dissent.
Photo: Acting chief editor Patrick Lam escorted back to office by police.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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