HONG KONG’S PRO-DEMOCRACY NEWSPAPER APPLE DAILY SHUT DOWN

Wed 23 June 2021:

A dissident newspaper in Hong Kong, Apple Daily, announced its closure on Wednesday, after the government arrested its executives and frozen their assets last week under a new national security law.

The newspaper’s publisher, Next Digital, said in a statement that the board of directors has decided to shut down the paper as of Sunday.

“Next Digital Limited regrets to announce that due to the current circumstances prevailing in Hong Kong, Apple Daily in its print form will come to an end no later than the last edition on Saturday 26 June 2021 and the digital version will no longer be accessible later than 11:59 p.m. on Saturday 26 June 2021,” it stated.

“The Company thanks our readers for their loyal support and our journalists, staff, and advertisers for their commitment over the past 26 years,” the statement added.

Earlier, the company’s largest magazine, Next Magazine, also announced that it will end operations.

The development came after Hong Kong authorities arrested another key member of the newspaper on Wednesday.

Apple Daily has come under increasing pressure since its tycoon owner and staunch China critic, Jimmy Lai, was arrested in August last year under the contentious national security law. The legislation bans anything Beijing deems secession, subversion, “terrorism” and collusion with foreign forces, and was imposed in the wake of huge pro-democracy protests that rocked the semi-autonomous territory in 2019.

Following Lai’s arrest, 200 police raided the paper’s headquarters, while another 500 police stormed the building again last week. They arrested five other Apple Daily executives on charges of collusion and froze 18 million Hong Kong dollars worth ($2.3 million) of the tabloid’s assets.

The police action came after China implemented its national security law in the semi-autonomous region on July 1, 2020.

The law criminalizes anti-China sentiments in the region, which continued to serve as a vibrant economic hub after the UK handed it over to Beijing in 1997 under a vow that it would enjoy a “high level of autonomy” for 50 years.

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