Fury as Hong Kong paper forced to shut
HONG Kong’s pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper will close by this weekend after police arrested five editors and executives and froze 2.3 million dollars (£1.65 million) in assets linked to the paper.
The board of directors said in a statement on Wednesday that the paper’s print and online editions will cease no later than Saturday due to “the current circumstances prevailing in Hong Kong”.
So far, more than 100 people have been arrested under Hong Kong’s new national security law, including pro-democracy activists and Apple Daily’s publisher Jimmy Lai.
Police cited more than 30 articles published by the paper as evidence of an alleged conspiracy to impose foreign sanctions on Hong Kong and China.
It was the freezing of assets that spelled the paper’s demise.
The board of directors had earlier this week written to Hong Kong’s security bureau requesting the release of some of its funds so that the company could pay wages.
The police operation against Apple Daily drew criticism from the UK, US and EU, which said Hong Kong and Chinese authorities are targeting the freedoms promised to the city when the former British colony was returned to the control of Beijing in 1997.
Chinese and Hong Kong officials have said the media must abide by the law, and that press freedom cannot be used as a “shield” for illegal activities.
The closure has been described as “a chilling blow to freedom of expression” by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
Mr Raab said: “It is crystal clear that the powers under the national security law are being used as a tool to curtail freedoms and punish dissent - rather than keep public order.
“The Chinese government undertook to protect press freedom and freedom of speech in Hong Kong under the Uk-sino Joint Declaration. It must keep its promises, and stand by the commitments it freely assumed.”
The Joint Declaration was supposed to guarantee Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy for 50 years following the handover of the territory by Britain to China in 1997.
Chinese state media has previously dismissed the treaty as a “historical document” which had been “invalid and expired” for a long time.
Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law, who was granted asylum in the UK in April and says he is “exiled in London”, tweeted: “This is one of the most disgusting attacks on press freedom. Apple Daily is murdered by the Chinese Communist Party because it supports democratic movement.”