onsdag 29. desember 2021

Hong Kong police arrest six people from independent outlet Stand News

Hundreds of Hong Kong national security police have raided the office of online pro-democracy media outlet Stand News and arrested six people, including senior staff, for “conspiracy to publish seditious publications”, in the latest crackdown on independent press in the territory.

Among those arrested were prominent Hong Kong activists including pop singer Denise Ho and barrister Margaret Ng, both of whom previously served on the Stand News board. The arrests happened early on Wednesday, police said, and searches of the journalists’ homes were carried out. The raid further raises concerns about the freedom of speech and that of the media in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise a wide range of individual rights would be protected.