Stand News: Verdict in sedition trial of Hong Kong journalists expected almost 2 years after trial began
Hong Kong Free Press
The verdict in the sedition trial of Hong Kong’s now-shuttered news outlet Stand News and two of its former editors is scheduled to be delivered on Thursday, almost two years after the trial began, in a case that has fuelled concerns about the city’s diminishing media freedoms.
Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, both top editors at the outlet before it was forced to close in December 2021, were charged alongside Stand News’ parent company Best Pencil Limited with taking part in a “conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious publications.” They pleaded not guilty to the charge in October 2022 and face up to two years in jail if convicted.
The long-awaited verdict – originally set for last October – has been postponed multiple times, first to November and later pending the outcome of an appeal in a separate sedition case involving pro-democracy activist “Fast-Beat” Tam Tak-chi.
Tam lost his appeal, and the Stand News verdict was scheduled for April, but days before the ruling it was postponed again until Thursday. However, Tam has since been allowed to take his appeal to the city’s top court, with a hearing set for next January.
When it happens, the Stand News verdict will be the first ruling in a sedition case involving a media outlet since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Arrests, closure of Stand News
Stand News gained prominence in 2019 for its coverage of the protests and unrest that rocked Hong Kong that year, sparked by a proposed amendment to the city’s extradition bill.
The protests were largely put down by social distancing measures introduced to stem the spread of Covid-19 in early 2020, and after Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in June that year.
On December 29, 2021, more than 200 national security police raided Stand News’ office, freezing HK$61 million of the outlet’s assets. Hours later, Stand News announced its closure and removed its online content.
Seven people linked to Stand News were arrested in the police raid, but only Chung, Lam, and the outlet were charged with the sedition offence.
The arrests drew concerns over the city’s press freedom from international community including the UN, the EU, the US, Canada, and the UK. Such concerns were rejected by Beijing and Teresa Cheng, who was at the time the city’s justice minister.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association said it was “deeply concerned” by the arrests and urged the government to protect press freedom.
Chief Executive John Lee, who was at the time the city’s chief secretary, said after the arrests that there were “evil elements that damage press freedom.” He urged media workers to maintain their professionalism and keep a distance from such elements.
‘Seditious’ articles
The trial of Chung, Lam and Best Pencil, which began in October 2022, was originally slated to last for 20 days. It was overseen by District Judge Kwok Wai-kin, who had been handpicked by the city’s leader to try national security offences.
Prosecutors allege Stand News had sought to incite hatred against authorities through 17 articles published between July 2020 and December 2021.
Those articles included interviews with now-detained activists, such as Owen Chow, Fergus Leung, and Gwyneth Ho, who are among 45 pro-democracy figures convicted of conspiring to commit subversion in the city’s largest national security trial. Ho worked as a journalist at Stand News during the 2019 protests.
List of the 17 selected articles – Click to see
- Profile of Gwyneth Ho, a candidate in the 2020 legislative primaries held by the pro-democracy camp, published on July 7, 2020.
- Profile of Owen Chow, a candidate in the 2020 legislative primaries held by the pro-democracy camp, published on July 27, 2020.
- Profile of Fergus Leung, a candidate in the 2020 legislative primaries held by the pro-democracy camp, published on August 12, 2020.
- Commentary by Chan Pui-man, Apple Daily’s former associate publisher, criticising speech crimes, published on September 12, 2020.
- Commentary by Nathan Law, a former lawmaker now in self-exile, on “how to resist” under the national security law, published on September 20, 2020.
- Profile of Law on his “battlefront” of calling for sanctions on the Hong Kong government in the UK, published on December 9, 2020.
- Commentary by Law on “resilience in a chaotic world,” published on December 13, 2020.
- Feature interview with Ted Hui, a former lawmaker in self-exile, after he fled Hong Kong with his family, published on December 14, 2020.
- Feature interview with Baggio Leung, a former lawmaker in self-exile, as he called for sanctions on Hong Kong and a “lifeboat scheme for Hongkongers,” published on December 15, 2020.
- Commentary by Sunny Cheung, an activist in self-exile, responding to being wanted by the Hong Kong government, published on December 28, 2020.
- Commentary by Allan Au, a veteran journalist, on “new words in 2020,” which included “national security,” “disqualified” and “in exile,” published on December 29, 2020.
- Commentary by Au calling a national security trial a show, published on February 3, 2021.
- Commentary by Law paralleling the mass arrests of candidates in the democrats’ primaries to mass arrests during Taiwan’s white terror period, published on March 2, 2021.
- Commentary by Au accusing the authorities of “lawfare” in usage of the sedition law, published on June 1, 2021.
- Commentary by Au describing Hong Kong as a disaster scene after the implementation of national security law, published on June 22, 2021.
- Feature about CUHK graduates’ march on campus to mark the second anniversary of the police-student clash in 2019, published on November 11, 2021.
- Report on Chow Hang-tung’s response to being honoured with the Prominent Chinese Democracy Activist award, published on December 5, 2021.
*The published dates of the articles were listed according to both the prosecutor’s opening statement and HKFP’s database.
The list also included commentaries by overseas activists in self-exile, such as Nathan Law and Sunny Cheung and opinion pieces by veteran journalist Allan Au, who was arrested in April 2022 over alleged sedition but has not been charged.
Lead prosecutor Laura Ng argued that the profiles and commentaries promoted “radical political ideologies” of overseas activists and incited hatred against the Beijing-imposed security law.
“Ever since its implementation, the national security law has been unfairly attacked, and is still being unreasonably defamed by foreign forces,” Ng said during the prosecution’s opening statement.
Two pieces of reportage – a feature story on clashes between protesters and police at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2019, and an article about detained activist Chow Hang-tung receiving the Prominent Chinese Democracy Activist award – were also deemed seditious by the prosecution.
The trial
Soon after the trial begun, it was suspended after new evidence came to light, prompting protests from the defence.
“We need to know what materials you didn’t pick as evidence, or why you ignored other fair news reports,” defence lawyer Audrey Eu said on the fourth day of the trial.
Chung and Lam, who had been in custody since their December 2021 arrests, were granted bail shortly afterwards, but their bid to terminate the trial was rejected by the judge.
During the 57-day trial that ensued, with closing arguments presented in June 2023, the court heard debates over journalistic professionalism, the legality of publishing criticism of the government, and whether news media in the US and Ukraine would interview militant leader Osama bin Laden or Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The prosecution contended that the defendants could be convicted if the publications were proven to be seditious, regardless of their intent, and that convicting Stand News and its ex-editors would have a negligible impact on press freedom in Hong Kong, compared with the risks the outlet posed to national security.
The defence challenged what it saw as an unfair prosecution, accusing prosecutors of cherry-picking articles and introducing new evidence as the trial unfolded. It said there was no seditious conspiracy since the defendants were legitimate journalists reporting on matters that other news outlets in the city had also covered.
The verdict
Last November, judge Kwok postponed delivery of his judgement pending an upper court ruling on the appeal by democracy activist Tam Tak-chi against his conviction for sedition.
Tam was the first person to be convicted of sedition in Hong Kong since the 1997 Handover. He was sentenced to three years and four months in jail in 2022 for 11 offences, including seven counts of “uttering seditious words.”
His appeal centred on the argument that the prosecution had failed to prove he intended to incite violence, thereby creating an excessive restriction on his freedom of speech – an argument that the defence in the Stand News case also tried to establish.
The Court of Appeal rejected Tam’s bid in March, ruling that sedition “takes many diversified forms” and an intention to incite violence was not essential to the offence. However, the Court of Final Appeal earlier this month gave Tam the green light to take his case to the top court, scheduling the appeal hearing for January 10. It will be the city’s first-ever legal challenge involving sedition in the top court.
The sedition offence
The Stand News case was prosecuted under the colonial-era sedition law, which was repealed following the enactment of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, also known as Article 23, in March.
The sedition offence was used by the British colonial government to prosecute pro-China leftist newspapers in the 1950s and 1960s during periods of social unrest.
It sat unused for over half a century until authorities invoked the law in the aftermath of the 2019 protests.
See also: Hong Kong’s sedition law – a colonial relic revived after half a century
The previous sedition offence, part of the city’s Crimes Ordinance, carried a maximum penalty of two years in prison for a first-time offender.
That was raised to seven years in prison – and 10 years if the offender is found to have colluded with a foreign element – in the new Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.
Chung and Lam still face a maximum penalty of two years in jail. However, if convicted and sentenced, they may not enjoy the benefit of an early release based on good behaviour in jail due to an amendment of prison rules under the new security legislation.
Since it was enacted in March, prisoners jailed for national security offences may only be granted a sentence reduction if authorities are satisfied their early release would “not be contrary to the interests of national security.”
Before the new legislation kicked in, prisoners with good conduct could receive a one-third remission, apart from those serving a life sentence.
Press freedom
In 2022, Hong Kong plummeted 68 places in Reporters Without Borders’ international press freedom ranking to 148th, with the global media watchdog citing the forced closures of Stand News and Apple Daily as signs of declining press freedom.
The city’s leader has repeatedly said that Hong Kong enjoys press freedom in accordance with the law.
Last year, the Court of Final Appeal quashed the conviction of investigative journalist Bao Choy over making false statement to access vehicle records while producing a documentary about a mob attack during the 2019 protests. It marked a rare legal victory for the press in the city.
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