Two journalists protecting Hong Kong’s pro-democracy newspapers have been discovered responsible of sedition.
Two editors on the now-defunct Stand Information outlet, Chung Pei-kuen and Lin Pak-keung, might now withstand two years in jail.
That is the primary sedition case towards a journalist since Hong Kong was handed over from Britain to China in 1997.
In keeping with the district court docket decide who convicted the pair, their newspaper’s editorial supported “Hong Kong’s native autonomy.”
Decide Kwok Wai-kin mentioned in a written assertion that Stand Information had turn out to be “a risk to nationwide safety.”
“It has even turn out to be a software to discredit and vilify the central authorities.” [in Beijing] and [Hong Kong] SAR Authorities,” he mentioned in a written judgment.
Stand Information is one among a handful of comparatively new on-line information portals that gained specific consideration throughout the 2019 pro-democracy protests.
However for the reason that introduction of the controversial nationwide safety legislation, many media shops in Hong Kong have closed, together with the favored anti-establishment publication Apple Day by day. Its proprietor, Jimmy Lai, was jailed in 2021.
Stand Information was one of many final brazenly pro-democracy publications till it closed in December 2021, with seven folks arrested and charged with “conspiracy to publish seditious publications.”
The case attracted worldwide consideration and condemnation from Western international locations.
The USA has repeatedly condemned Hong Kong’s prosecution of journalists, saying the instances towards the 2 editors had a “chilling impact on the press and others within the media.”
