Jail warning for holding on to copies of old pro-democracy newspaper

Keeping old copies of newspapers in Hong Kong could lead to prosecution for sedition, the territory’s pro-Beijing authorities have said.

Security laws that are being pushed through would leave people who hold on to copies of the now defunct newspaper Apple Daily liable to prosecution and up to three years in prison.

Apple Daily, an outspoken pro-democracy tabloid, ceased publication in 2021 after its bank accounts were frozen and senior staff – including Jimmy Lai, its millionaire proprietor and founder – were arrested.

Lai is on trial on several charges, including conspiracy to collude with a “foreign country or external elements to endanger national security”, as well as creating a “seditious publication” and conspiracy to endanger national security through his newspaper.

He is being prosecuted under the national security law that was imposed on Hong Kong by the government of Beijing in 2020, after the suppression of street protests the previous year.

Since the law’s introduction. almost 300 people have been arrested for national security offences, including activists, journalists and elected politicians from pro-democracy parties.

More than 30 people have been convicted, and trials are still in progress. Other activists have fled abroad to avoid arrest.

The law now being rushed through the territory’s legislature, which has been purged of pro-democracy politicians, would give officials enhanced powers to prevent anti-government protests and to prosecute opponents even if they were outside the territory.

John Lee, Hong Kong’s chief executive, has called for the Safeguarding National Security Bill to be pushed through “at full speed”. It would expand the government’s power to stamp out challenges to its rule, targeting espionage, disclosing state secrets and “colluding with external forces”.

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