HONG KONG — 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.
Dozens of residents and reporters lined up to secure a seat for the hearing, which began an hour late.
The delivery of the verdict was delayed several times for reasons including awaiting the appeal outcome of another landmark sedition case.
Resident Kevin Ng, who was among the first in the line, said he used to be a reader of Stand News and has been following the trial. Ng, 28, said he read less news after its shutdown, feeling the city has lost some critical voices. He said if the editors were found guilty, he would have “complex feelings.”
“They reported the truth, they defended press freedom,” said Ng, who works in risk management industry.
Judge Kwok Wai-kin found that 11 of the 17 articles in question carried seditious intent, according to a press summary. He noted the intense political atmosphere at the time of their publication, when many residents were dissatisfied with or opposed to the governments of Hong Kong and China.
The articles included stories featuring pro-democracy ex-lawmakers Nathan Law and Ted Hui, who are among a group of overseas-based activists targeted by Hong Kong police bounties. Other articles included interviews with three participants in a primary election organized by the pro-democracy camp in 2020, and commentaries by Law and veteran journalists Allan Au and Chan Pui-man. Chan is also Chung’s wife.
The court ruled that interviews with Law and Hui did not carry seditious intention because they only touched on the political views and the status of the interviewees, the summary said. Two of the interviews with the primary participants were also not seditious due to similar reasons, but the judge deemed a third one had the intent of inciting hatred against the authorities.
The commentaries were also said to be seditious because they smeared the national security law, the city’s crime ordinance, as well as law enforcement and prosecution procedures without objective basis, it said.
Prosecutors accused some of the articles of helping promote “illegal ideologies,” as well as smearing the security law and law enforcement officers.
Prosecutors said Stand News was a political platform as well as an online news outlet.
Chung previously denied that Stand News was a political platform, and emphasized the importance of freedom of speech during the trial.
“Freedom of speech should not be restricted on the grounds of eradicating dangerous ideas, but rather it should be used to eradicate dangerous ideas,” he said.
Stand News shut down in December 2021, following a high-profile police raid at its office and the arrests. Armed with a warrant to seize relevant journalistic materials, more than 200 officers participated in the operation.
Days after Stand News shut down, independent news outlet Citizen News also announced it would cease operations, citing the deteriorating media environment and the potential risks to its staff.
Hong Kong was ranked 135 out of 180 territories in Reporters Without Borders’ latest World Press Freedom Index, down from 80 in 2021. Self-censorship has also become more prominent during the political crackdown on dissent. In March, the city government enacted another new security law that many journalists worried it could further curtail press freedom.
The Hong Kong government insists the city still enjoys press freedom, as guaranteed by its mini-constitution.