After 23 countries express concern over sedition ruling against Hong Kong journalists, city’s gov’t rejects ‘smears’
Hong Kong Free Press
The Hong Kong government has rejected “smears” by an international media freedom coalition after 23 partner countries expressed concern about a court ruling that found the former editors of shuttered independent news outlet Stand News guilty of sedition.
Members of the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC) in a statement on Monday said they were “gravely concerned” about the court verdict and “the wider suppression of media freedom” in Hong Kong. Among the 23 signatories were the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, and Ireland.
In response, the government said on Tuesday that it “disapproved of and rejected the fact-twisting remarks and baseless smears.”
“We have emphasised time and again, and it is necessary to reiterate that Hong Kong citizens enjoy freedom of the press and freedom of speech as protected under the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights,” the government statement read.
Former chief editors Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam were last month found guilty of sedition after District Court Judge Kwok Wai-kin found that Stand News had become a tool to smear and vilify authorities in Beijing and the city during the 2019 protests and unrest.
“Their guilty verdict falls against a wider backdrop of increased media self-censorship and the hostility by Hong Kong authorities against local and foreign journalists and their representative bodies, especially since the imposition of the National Security Law in June 2020,” the MFC statement read.
It also said that the introduction of additional security legislation in March, known locally as Article 23, further hampered the “free exchange of opinions and information.”
It added: “To enable media workers to safely fulfil their legitimate role in scrutinising government policy and actions, journalism should not be prosecuted under the guise of national security.”
Hong Kong has plummeted in international press freedom indices since the onset of the security law, with watchdogs citing the arrest of journalists, raids on newsrooms and the closure of around 10 media outlets including Apple Daily, Stand News and Citizen News.
Rights ‘not absolute’
The Hong Kong government rejected the MFC statement, saying that rights and freedoms were “not absolute.”
See also: How did a Hong Kong judge find media outlet Stand News a seditious ‘tool’ to smear Beijing?
“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.
The government statement cited the court’s judgement, saying that Stand News became a tool to “smear and vilify” Beijing and the Hong Kong authorities.
See also: How did a Hong Kong judge find media outlet Stand News a seditious ‘tool’ to smear Beijing?
The statement also said the press freedom body’s statement exposed double standards, citing the arrest of a British journalist by the UK police for allegedly violating the UK Terrorism Act.
Syrian-British freelance journalist Richard Medhurst said that he was arrested by British police in August under the UK Terrorism Act and was detained for almost 24 hours. He has not been charged.
“In the past, the US and some Western countries had also carried out law enforcement actions against the dissemination of disinformation, incitement of hatred, and glorification of violence in their own countries,” the government statement said.
Hong Kong issued its rebuttal just days after security chief Chris Tang slammed a Wall Street Journal editorial that urged sanctions on Hong Kong leaders.
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