Hong Kong court convicts Stand News, 2 ex-editors of sedition over 11 articles

A Hong Kong court has convicted a now-defunct online news service and two former editors of conspiracy to publish seditious articles after the city’s adoption of the national security law four years ago. Officials on Thursday praised the District Court ruling as a fair and just outcome showing the necessity of the police crackdown on Stand News in late 2021. Lauding the judgment, a government spokesman characterised the news portal service as “the greatest insult” to “professional” reporters. But the ruling also drew a backlash from the city’s largest journalists group and observers abroad, with the former warning against further use of sedition offences to penalise the media. The court held that Stand News had offered a platform for fostering hatred against Beijing and city authorities with the publication of 11 reports between July 2020 and December 2021. Judge Kwok Wai-kin ruled former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen, 54, and ex-acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam Shiu-tung, 36, had either knowingly approved the illegal articles or been reckless about the consequences of their actions. The judge convicted Stand News’ holding company, Best Pencil HK, on the basis that its criminal intent was manifested through the portal service’s editorial decisions. The court also held Stand News’ co-founder Tony Tsoi Tung-ho, who was not a defendant in the present trial, to be liable for conspiring to publish seditious articles on the popular website. Prosecutor Laura Ng Shuk-kuen said she would apply for the confiscation of HK$61 million in assets seized from the media outlet in separate proceedings. Bail for Chung and Lam was extended until sentencing on September 26. The two editors had spent up to 11 months incarcerated before securing bail in the middle of the trial. Lam was excused from attending Thursday’s hearing for medical reasons, but Kwok told the defence the accused must return to court on the next occasion. Thursday’s ruling marked the first time a judge hand-picked by the city leader to adjudicate proceedings under the Beijing-decreed law had set down acceptable boundaries for news reporting, especially on sociopolitical topics. Kwok ruled that two of the 11 offensive reports – an interview with journalist turned activist Gwyneth Ho Kwai-lam and a commentary by fugitive former lawmaker Nathan Law Kwun-chung – had advocated anti-government ideologies and disparaged police and prosecutors. He said Law’s piece also unfairly described the arrest and prosecution of 47 opposition figures linked to a 2020 unofficial legislative primary election as “ridiculous” and an abuse of power. Eight opinion pieces, including ones by Law and veteran journalist Allan Au Ka-lun, either attacked criminal procedures, had spread disinformation about police treatment of protesters or undermined the government’s authority “without any objective basis”, the judge said. Kwok also took issue with a feature story, which recounted the stand-off between protesters and police at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in November 2019, saying it made false accusations against officers and “glorified the behaviour of the rioters”. The judge found insufficient evidence that six other reports submitted by prosecutors had crossed legal boundaries. In response to the verdict, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) said the case exemplified the decline of press freedom and had done “irreversible” damage to the media. The group highlighted recent calls by Ming Pao’s editor-in-chief for its columnists to avoid “danger” when writing articles, as well as the government’s denial of a Bloomberg reporter’s work visa. “These incidents are testament to the state of the city’s press freedom today,” the association said. The European Union slammed the verdict as “yet another sign of the dwindling space for press freedom” in Hong Kong, which risked further inhibiting the exchange of ideas and the free flow of information in the global financial hub. “The EU calls on the Hong Kong authorities to restore confidence in press freedom in Hong Kong and to stop prosecuting journalists,” it said. “The preservation of free, independent and pluralistic media is vital for resilient and healthy societies.” Catherine West, the British foreign minister responsible for the Indo-Pacific, said in a tweet “journalism is not a crime” and the editors had been found guilty just for “doing their job”. Maya Wang, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the ruling was testament to the “alarming deterioration of basic rights” in the city and urged authorities to stop targeting journalists. But authorities rejected claims that press freedom had been undermined by the convictions. No 2 official Eric Chan Kwok-ki pointed to statutory safeguards for a free press and said any purported restrictions were “non-existent”. Steve Li Kwai-wah, the chief superintendent of police’s national security department, said the ruling vindicated the force’s crackdown on Stand News and highlighted the possible impact of “fake news” and “seditious information” on public security and stability. “Some people criticised us that we were suppressing the freedom of speech and of the press, but today the judge’s verdict has clearly illustrated the necessity and lawfulness of the enforcement [action],” he said. Police would further consult the Department of Justice as to whether to also prosecute the authors of the 11 seditious articles, Li added. A government spokesman said the verdict served justice and he slammed the now-closed outlet for “completely disregarding objective facts” and “distorting seditious statements and conduct as journalism”. The Hong Kong Federation of Journalists, which represents a group of “patriotic” media professionals, hit back at the HKJA’s statement and said the guilt of Stand News and its editors was “indisputable”. The group also maintained press freedom was better protected under the new political order. Stand News is the first media outlet to be accused of sedition since the city’s return to Chinese rule in 1997.

Hong Kong court convicts Stand News, 2 ex-editors of sedition over 11 articles

Officials praise ruling as showing necessity of police crackdown on Stand News, but journalists group and EU decry shrinking media freedoms