Hong Kong: two people charged with “sedition” after raid on Stand News

Published on : 12/30/2021 – 8:17 AM

Police announced Thursday (December 30th) that two of those arrested Wednesday in the police operation against pro-democracy news site Stand News in Hong Kong have been charged with “sedition”.

In a statement, without providing the identity of the two, the national security police said they had “formally charged two men, aged 34 and 52, and an online media company, with conspiring to carry out a seditious publication “.

According to local media, they are editor-in-chief Patrick Lam and his predecessor Chung Pui-kuen, arrested on Wednesday along with five other people linked to Stand News. These five other people “remain detained for the purposes of further investigations,” police said.

“Harmful Allegations”

Stand News, founded in 2014 and very active during the major anti-government protests in Hong Kong in 2019, announced on Wednesday that it was closing and laying off all its employees, with its assets now frozen by authorities.

Hong Kong National Security Police Chief Steve Li on Wednesday accused the site of posting “seditious” articles and blog posts in the form of “evil allegations without any factual basis” between July 2020 and November 2021.

This crackdown sparked numerous international condemnations. “Journalism is not sedition”, reacted in particular on Wednesday US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who called on China and the Hong Kong authorities to “stop attacking the free and independent media” .

With AFP