Editors Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam of the now-defunct media outfit News had written pieces concerning China’s repression of civil liberties in the city.
Lam received an 11-month sentence but was freed due to health concerns, whereas Chung received a 21-month sentence. Best Pencil, the publisher of Stand News, was fined HK$5,000 (US$643; £480).
Since Hong Kong was turned over from Britain to China in 1997, this is the first instance of sedition against a journalist in the region.
Following a protracted trial that started in October 2022 and was initially only supposed to last 20 days, district court judge Kwok Wai-kin Kwok determined that Stand News had turned into a “danger to national security” and that 11 of its pieces were seditious.
According to a written declaration from Mr. Kwok, their newspaper’s editorial line supports “Hong Kong local autonomy”.
He said, “It even became a vehicle to defame and smear the [Hong Kong] SAR Government and the Central Authorities [in Beijing].
Instead of using the contentious national security law (NSL), which prosecutors had seldom ever used before, both journalists were charged under a sedition statute from the colonial era.
A few relatively young internet news sources, including News, rose to popularity, particularly during it.
