Hong Kong court finds Stand News editors guilty of sedition

A Hong Kong court has found two former chief editors of the now-defunct pro-democracy news outlet Stand News guilty of sedition in a landmark case that has taken place amid a security crackdown in the China-ruled city.

District Court judge Kwok Wai-kin announced the verdict on Thursday, declaring former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam guilty of conspiring to publish seditious publications based on 17 articles.

The judge did not immediately hand down a sentence, but the pair could now face a maximum sentence of up to two years in prison and a fine of 5,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $640) under a colonial-era sedition law.

Reporting from Hong Kong, Al Jazeera’s Laura Westbrook said the trial was “being seen as a litmus test for press freedom in the city”, noting that it was the first sedition trial against Hong Kong journalists since the former British colony was handed back to China in 1997.

“People will be looking at this verdict as another worrying sign that the freedoms that … Hong Kong enjoyed have been slowly diminishing,” she said, with reference to journalists and international news organisations.

Stand News was shuttered in 2021 after a massive police raid on its office in which the two journalists were arrested along with five members of staff.

It was one of the city’s last media outlets that openly criticised the government amid a crackdown on dissent that followed massive pro-democracy protests in 2019.

‘Eradicating dangerous ideas’

The sedition case centred on 17 articles, including stories featuring pro-democracy ex-politicians Nathan Law and Ted Hui, who are among a group of overseas-based activists for whom the Hong Kong police have offered bounties in exchange for capture.

Other articles featured interviews with three participants in a primary election organised by the pro-democracy camp in 2020, and commentaries by Law and veteran journalists Allan Au and Chan Pui-man.

Prosecutors claimed some of the articles helped promote “illegal ideologies,” as well as smearing the security law and law enforcement officers. They described Stand News as a political platform as well as an online news outlet.

“Freedom of speech should not be restricted on the grounds of eradicating dangerous ideas, but rather it should be used to eradicate dangerous ideas,” said Chung during the trial, which saw him deny that Stand News was a political platform. His former colleague, Lam, did not appear in court.

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.

Days after its closure, 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 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 worry could further curtail media freedoms.

The Hong Kong government insists the city still enjoys press freedom, as guaranteed by its mini-constitution.