Hong Kong journalists found guilty of sedition in landmark case

NEWS WIRES

29 August 2024 at 8:25 am·2-min read

Human rights groups have condemned a Hong Kong court ruling on Thursday, which found two former chief editors of the shuttered news outlet Stand News guilty of sedition. Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam were the first journalists to be convicted of sedition since Britain handed Hong Kong over to China in 1997.

Hong Kong pro-democracy news outlet Stand News and its two former chief editors were found guilty of sedition on Thursday, the first conviction of its kind since the city came under Chinese rule in 1997.

The verdict is part of a crackdown on free speech in the former British colony that has seen critics of China jailed or forced into exile, following huge pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Editors Chung Pui-kuen, 54, and Patrick Lam, 36, are the first journalists to be convicted of sedition since Britain handed Hong Kong over to China in 1997, and the ruling drew resounding international condemnation.

Chung and Lam were in charge of Stand News, a Chinese-language website that gained a massive following during the protests in 2019, before it was raided and shut down in December 2021.

On Thursday, district court judge Kwok Wai-kin said the pair were guilty of "conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious publications". The parent company of Stand News, Best Pencil Limited, was also found guilty.

"The line (Stand News) took was to support and promote Hong Kong local autonomy," according to a written judgement by Kwok.

Lam was absent from court on Thursday due to illness.

"Journalism is not seditious," she said.

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