Apple Daily editors arrested under new security law in HK
HONG Kong police arrested five editors and executives of Apple Daily, an anti-government newspaper, on charges of colluding with foreign powers under the city’s new national security law.
Police said they had evidence that more than 30 articles published by Apple Daily played a crucial part in a conspiracy with foreign countries to impose sanctions against China’s mainland and Hong Kong.
The five people arrested were editor-in-chief Ryan Law, chief executive officer Cheung Kim-hung, Chief Operating Officer Chow Tatkuen, Deputy Chief Editor Chan Puiman and Chief Executive Editor Cheung Chi-wai.
Hong Kong Security Minister John Lee told a news conference that police will investigate those arrested and others to establish if they have assisted in instigating or funding the offenses.
He said that the police action against the Apple Daily editors and executives is not related to “normal journalistic work.”
“The action targeted the use of journalistic work as a tool to endanger national security,” he said.
Senior superintendent Li Kwaiwah said the tabloid’s reports dated back to 2019. The legislation is not retrospective but prosecutors can use actions from before its implementation as evidence.
Police have also frozen HK$18 million (US$2.32 million) of assets owned by three companies linked to Apple Daily.
Police seized 38 computers used by its reporters, Apple Daily said.
The raid is the latest blow to media tycoon Jimmy Lai, the paper’s owner, whose assets have been frozen under the security law and who is serving prison
sentences for taking part in illegal assemblies.
It was the second time national security police have raided the Apple Daily headquarters; 200 officers went in last year to arrest Lai on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces.
Lai has been in detention since December, denied bail under the security law and serving several sentences for taking part in unauthorized rallies, including during the global financial hub’s mass anti-government protests in 2019 in response to a proposed extradition law, which quickly grew violent.
The Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region said it firmly supported the just action by the police.
According to the national security law in Hong Kong, any institution, organization or individual in the HKSAR shall abide by the national security law and other laws of the region in relation to safeguarding national security and shall not engage in any act or activity which endangers national security, a spokesperson of the office said in a statement.
The Basic Law guarantees freedoms of speech, press and publication of Hong Kong residents, but rights and freedoms have boundaries and cannot breach the bottom line of national security, which is in line with relevant international conventions and the legal practices in various countries, the liaison office said.
Hong Kong is known for the rule of law and all are equal before the law, the liaison office said, stressing that media organizations should be no exception and freedom of the press is not a “shield” for illegal acts.
Anyone who violates the national security law in Hong Kong and other related laws will be severely punished by law, regardless of his or her profession and background and which force is behind, the liaison office said.