Hong Kong news website is shut in raid by 200 police
UP to 200 police raided and closed down a pro-democracy news outlet in Hong Kong yesterday.
In a further erosion of free speech in the former British territory, seven senior figures at Stand News were arrested in the dawn operation.
The website was one of the last to be openly critical of China following the closure of the Apple Daily newspaper.
It said its website and social media would be taken down and all employees dismissed, adding: ‘Stand News was editorially independent, and was dedicated to protecting Hong Kong’s core values such as democracy, human rights, freedom, rule of law and justice.’
The outlet had posted a video on Facebook of police at the home of deputy editor Ronson Chan. Mr Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was held for questioning. The six other editors – including Patrick Lam – were detained on charges of conspiracy to publish a seditious publication. Benedict Rogers, co-founder of Hong Kong Watch, described the arrests as an ‘all-out assault’ on press freedom. He said: ‘When a free press guaranteed by Hong Kong’s Basic Law is labelled “seditious”, it is a symbol of the speed at which this once great, open, international city has descended into little more than a police state.’
Mr Chan, who was later released, told media the police seized his electronic devices, bank cards and press card.
They had a warrant to seize relevant journalistic materials under a national security law brought in by Beijing last year to stifle dissent. Police had previously raided the offices of the Apple Daily, seizing computer hard drives to assist in their investigation and freezing assets. They charged its owner Jimmy Lai with sedition on Tuesday.
‘We are not targeting reporters, we are not targeting the media, we just targeted national security offences,’ said police superintendent Li Kwai-wah. ‘If you only report, I don’t think this is a problem.’
‘Little more than a police state
Asked what advice he had for the media, Mr Li replied: ‘Don’t be biased. You know well how to report, how to be a responsible reporter, how to make a non-biased report to your readers.’
The arrests follow last week’s removal of sculptures and other art honouring the victims of China’s crackdown on democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.
The UN Human Rights Office in Geneva said last night that it was alarmed at the ‘extremely rapid closing of the civic space and outlets for Hong Kong’s civil society to speak and express themselves freely’.