Hong Kong court convicts editors over articles on democracy activists

By Rebecca Choong Wilkins

A Hong Kong court found two former editors guilty for publishing articles about pro-democracy activists that were deemed seditious, convicting journalists of sedition charges for the first time in decades and deepening press freedom concerns.
 

The city’s District Court on Thursday announced the conviction of Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, top editors at the shuttered pro-democracy publisher Stand News, and its parent company. The sedition case is the first involving a media outlet since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule.

The trial was seen as a barometer for press freedom in the once-freewheeling finance hub after Chinese authorities crushed dissent with a national security law in response to massive protests in 2019 advocating for greater democracy. 

Chung and Lam were charged with taking part in a “conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious publications,” an offense punishable by up to two years in jail. They pleaded not guilty when the trial began in 2022.

Prosecutors cited 17 articles published by Stand News in 2020 and 2021 as evidence, such as interviews with pro-democracy activists, including those who were found guilty in a separate case under the Beijing-imposed national security law. 

The court ruled that 11 of the articles had “seditious intentions,” including some that attacked the national security law and others that “reviled” Beijing authorities without objective basis. It alleged that Stand News sought to promote “Hong Kong local autonomy” and became a tool to smear and vilify the central and local authorities.

The decision, announced to a courtroom packed with members of the public and the media, has prompted criticism from a local press union, the US government and the European Union.

“Journalism is not a crime,” said a spokesperson for the US consulate, who observed the ruling alongside representatives from the UK and EU missions. “The Hong Kong court’s conviction of the former chief editors of Stand News for sedition is a direct attack on media freedom.”

The EU’s diplomatic service said the “ruling risks further inhibiting the pluralistic exchange of ideas and the free flow of information.”

Before Beijing’s crackdown on liberties raised concerns over Hong Kong’s status as a financial hub, the city was known as a haven for free speech and home to a vibrant media landscape that set it apart from mainland China, where such freedoms are unheard of.

Hong Kong’s independent legal system remains a major draw for global firms, but an unprecedented wave of departures of top foreign judges has added to worries over the future of the rule of law in the city. Its top court, established in 1997 after the handover, has seen about half of its 15 overseas judges step down from a 2019 peak.

Chung and Lam were charged under a colonial-era sedition law revived in recent years to target critics, including a radio host who was found guilty of uttering seditious phrases.

Hong Kong Journalists Association said the case exemplifies the decline of press freedom in the city.

“We strongly oppose using sedition laws — including those set out in the new Safeguarding National Security Ordinance — to prosecute people exercising their constitutional right to conduct journalism,” the organization said in a statement, referring to new national security legislation the city introduced in March that raised the maximum penalty for sedition to as many as 10 years in prison.

Stand News, which extensively covered the 2019 protests, folded at the end of 2021 after authorities raided its office and froze its assets. That followed similar raids of the office of Apple Daily and its parent company Next Digital, whose former editors and founder Jimmy Lai have also been accused of publishing seditious materials.

Lai will take the stand to defend himself in a major national security case later this year after a court dismissed his bid to quash charges that could see the 76-year-old locked up for life. Lai’s lawyers will defend the pro-democracy tycoon when the hearing resumes on November 20.

Two dozen governments have criticized Hong Kong and Chinese authorities for attacks on press freedom and the suppression of independent local media in the city, citing the cases of Stand News and Apple Daily. 

Hong Kong ranks 135 out of 180 places in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, declining from 18th place in the span of two decades.