Chris Patten condemns ‘dark day for press freedom’ as Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam convicted over 11 articles
Protests in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park over a planned extradition law, which morphed into a wider call for democratic rights, in 2019.Protests in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park over a planned extradition law, which morphed into a wider call for democratic rights, in 2019.
The parent company of Stand News, Best Pencil Limited, was also found guilty. “The line took was to support and promote Hong Kong local autonomy,” the judgment said. “It even became a tool to smear and vilify the Central Authorities and the SAR government.” Stand News faced criticism from authorities but was seen by the population as one of the most credible Hong Kong outlets in 2019, according to surveys.
The sedition law dates back to the British colonial era and had been little used until authorities began charging pro-democracy figures with its crimes after the 2019 protests. It was repealed in March after Hong Kong introduced its own domestic national security law. The defence said Chung and Lam were legitimate journalists who covered the same stories as other Hong Kong outlets, and accused prosecutors of cherrypicking articles and introducing new evidence during the trial.
Beh Lih Yi, of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the use of the sedition law to target journalists “makes a mockery of justice”.
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