2 ex-editors of Hong Kong media outlet Stand News face sentencing Thursday in landmark sedition trial
Hong Kong Free Press
Two former editors of defunct independent Hong Kong media outlet Stand News face sentencing on Thursday afternoon, as the city’s first sedition trial of journalists since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 comes to a close.
Stand News’ former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen, 54, and former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam, 36, are due to appear in front of judge Kwok Wai-kin at Wan Chai’s District Court at 2.30 pm to hear their sentences.
The pair, and Stand News’ parent company, were found guilty last month of taking part in a “conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious publications.”
During a lengthy trial, which began in October 2022 and was originally scheduled to last just 20 days, the prosecution presented 17 articles published by Stand News as evidence of sedition, arguing that the outlet had sought to incite hatred against authorities through them.
Kwok ruled that 11 of the 17 were seditious, including an interview with former Stand News journalist turned activist Gwyneth Ho – who was in May convicted of conspiring to commit subversion over her role in an unofficial primary election along with 44 other pro-democracy figures – and opinion pieces written by self-exiled activist Nathan Law and journalism teacher Allan Au.
The 17 Stand News articles presented as evidence of sedition – click to view.
*Those in red were ruled “seditious” by the court.
- 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 mourn 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.
Kwok found Chung responsible for publishing 10 of the 11 articles in question, whereas Lam was responsible for the publication of the remaining article.
“[Chung and Lam] knew of and agreed with the seditious intention of the articles. They provided Stand News as a publication platform” to incite hatred against Hong Kong and China, Kwok wrote in a 127-page Chinese judgement.
Only Chung was in court to hear the verdict; Lam was absent because of a serious health issue. Senior Counsel Audrey Eu, who represented both defendants, read Lam’s mitigation letter aloud, in which the editor recalled that Stand News was founded as editorial autonomy in Hong Kong’s newsrooms was shrinking.
Against this background, Lam wrote that Stand News vowed to “speak up for the powerless, the marginalised and the minority,” even in face of “condemnation and attacks.”
“I believe the main reason that Stand News could survive for seven years was because readers wanted to read the news that was truly not influenced by corporations, powers or political parties,” Lam’s letter read.
Chung and Lam face up to two years in jail for the sedition offence, which previously fell under the city’s colonial-era Crimes Ordinance but has been replaced by new security legislation enacted in March that raises the maximum penalty for sedition to up to 10 years in jail.
The pair were detained for nearly a year following their arrests in December 2021. They were granted bail after the trial began.
Press freedom concerns
Independent online outlet Stand News rose to prominence in 2019 through its coverage of the Hong Kong protests. In December 2021, its newsroom was raided by national security police and seven people linked to Stand News were arrested. Of those, only Chung and Lam were charged. In the hours that followed, the outlet announced its closure and deleted all of its content.
The convictions of Chung and Lam sparked condemnation from international governments and NGOs, which said they showed a decline in Hong Kong’s press freedom. Twenty-three partner countries of the Media Freedom Coalition said they were “gravely concerned” about the verdict and “the wider suppression of media freedom” in Hong Kong. Among the signatories were the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, and Ireland.
In response, the government said it “disapproved of and rejected the fact-twisting remarks and baseless smears.”
“Journalists, like everyone else, have an obligation to abide by all the laws. Their freedom of commenting on and criticising government policies remains uninhibited as long as they do not violate the law,” a government spokesperson said.
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