Hong Kong’s Stand News shuts down after national security police arrest 7, freeze HK$61 million in assets
- Current and former chief editors arrested on Wednesday as more than 200 police take part in morning raids; ex-Apple Daily editor already in custody among the seven
- Singer Denise Ho and barrister Margaret Ng, former board members, among those arrested, while online outlet’s deputy assignment editor Ronson Chan taken in for questioning
Hong Kong’s Stand News dismissed all its staff and shut down on Wednesday after national security police arrested seven people who worked at, or were linked to, the online news platform for publishing material that authorities alleged was seditious and had stirred up hatred against the government.
Police froze HK$61 million (US$7.8 million) of Stand News’ assets, as it became the second news outlet popular among opposition activists and supporters to face accusations of promoting seditious material, after the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, whose owner Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and six senior employees were hit with new sedition charges on Tuesday.
The content on Stand News’ website and social media platforms had been removed by about 11pm. A notice posted on the site said it had ceased operating.
The city’s No 2 official, Chief Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu, said: “Anybody who attempts to make use of media work as a tool to pursue their political purpose or other interests [and] contravenes the law, particularly offences that endanger national security, they are the evil elements that damage press freedom.
“Professional media workers should recognise that these are the bad apples who are abusing their position simply by wearing a false coat of media worker and then, using that position, abuse news as a tool, to pursue their own purposes. They will pollute press freedom. Professional media workers should recognise this, say no to these people and stand far from them.”
Six people, including the current and former chief editors of Stand News, were arrested at their homes at about 6am under the Crimes Ordinance, a colonial-era law covering conspiracy to print or distribute seditious material. The offence is punishable by up to two years in prison and a fine of HK$5,000.
Acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam Shiu-tung, 34, resigned immediately after he was arrested, along with former chief editor Chung Pui-kuen, 52, who had already stepped down last month.
