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Wednesday, December 11, 2024
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HK court convicts 2 journalists in landmark sedition case

publish time

29/08/2024

publish time

29/08/2024

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Chung Pui-kuen, (second left), former chief editor and Patrick Lam, (left), former acting editor of the now-defunct independent media outlet Stand News leave the court on the last day of the publication's sedition trial closing statements, in Hong Kong on June 28, 2023. (AP)

HONG KONG, Aug 29, (AP): A Hong Kong court convicted two former editors of a shuttered news outlet on Thursday, in a sedition case that is widely seen as a barometer for the future of media freedom in the city once hailed as a bastion of free press in Asia. Stand News former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam were arrested in December 2021.

They pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious publications. Their sedition trial was Hong Kong’s first involving media since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Stand News was one of the city’s last media outlets that openly criticized the government amid a crackdown on dissent that followed massive pro-democracy protests in 2019.

It was shut down just months after the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, whose jailed founder Jimmy Lai is fighting collusion charges under a sweeping national security law enacted in 2020. Chung and Lam were charged under a colonial-era sedition law that has been used increasingly to crush dissidents.

They face up to two years in prison and a fine of 5,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $640) for a first offense. Best Pencil (Hong Kong) Ltd., the outlet’s holding company, was convicted on the same charge. It had no representatives during the trial, which began in October 2022. Chung appeared calm after the verdict was handed down, while Lam did not appear in court.

Defense lawyer Audrey Eu read out a mitigation statement from Lam, who said Stand News reporters sought to run a news outlet with fully independent editorial standards. "The only way for journalists to defend press freedom is reporting,” Eu quoted Lam saying.