FreeSpeech and Censorship: Thread

grarpamp grarpamp at gmail.com
Tue Jun 22 03:33:16 PDT 2021


Western Politicians trying Twitter Twist to Adopting Chinese Model


Hong Kong Police Raid Newsroom Of Pro-Democracy Paper, Arrests Executives

https://www.theepochtimes.com/hong-kongs-press-freedom-in-question-after-police-raid-newsroom-critical-of-beijing_3862559.html

International rights groups on Thursday slammed Hong Kong authorities
after local police mobilized over 500 officers in a raid on the
headquarters of local newspaper Apple Daily.

Police officers leave the Apple Daily newspaper offices in Hong Kong
after a raid by over 500 officers on June 17, 2021. (Anthony
Wallace/AFP via Getty Images)

The raid resulted in the arrest of five directors of the newspaper
under the Beijing’s draconian national security law. They were accused
of violating Article 29 of the law, which bans “collusion with a
foreign country or with external elements to endanger national
security.“ The collusion charge carries a maximum penalty of life
imprisonment.

Among those arrested were the paper’s editor-in-chief Ryan Law and
associate publisher Chan Pui-man. Cheung Kim-hung and Royston Chow,
chief executive officer and chief operating officer of the paper’s
publishing firm Next Digital, were also arrested.

It marks the second raid at the paper’s headquarters in less than a
year, after 200 Hong Kong police officers stormed the newsroom in
August last year a month after the national security law went into
effect.

    “The arrests of five executives at the pro-democracy Apple Daily
today under Hong Kong’s Orwellian National Security Law destroy any
remaining fiction that Hong Kong supports freedom of the press,”
Steven Butler, Asia program coordinator of the Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ), said in a statement.

He added: “China, which controls Hong Kong, may be able to eliminate
the paper, which it sees as an annoying critic, but only at a steep
price to be paid by the people of Hong Kong, who had enjoyed decades
of free access to information.”

    CPJ condemns the arrests today of five executives at the
pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper under Hong Kong’s Orwellian
National Security Law. at appledaily_hk https://t.co/yRBqYlmFYO
    — Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) June 17, 2021

The paper’s founder Jimmy Lai, who is currently in prison for his role
in anti-Beijing, pro-democracy protests in 2019, is also facing
allegations that he violated the national security law.

Washington-based nonprofit Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC) issued a
statement critical of both the Chinese regime and the pro-Beijing Hong
Kong government.

    “Hong Kong has been left with little free speech under the NSL
(national security law), which aims to silence all dissent. Today’s
arrests mark yet another step toward remaking Hong Kong in Beijing’s
liking,” stated Victoria Hui, a HKDC board member.

Samuel Chiu, HKDC’s managing director, pointed out how journalists in
Hong Kong, including Jimmy Lai, Bao Choy, and Nabela Qoser, were being
targeted for “defending freedom of the press.”

    “No regime can totally suppress the truth and truth-tellers,” Chu stated.

Choy is a freelance producer with local public broadcaster Radio
Television Hong Kong (RTHK), who was found guilty and fined by the
Hong Kong government in April for making false statements to obtain
vehicle records, which were used in her documentary examining a mob
attack on commuters at a Hong Kong metro station on July 21, 2019.

Many of the metro passengers were on their way home after taking part
in a mass protest against an extradition bill that would have paved
the way for people in Hong Kong to be sent to mainland China if
accused of a crime and tried under the communist party’s judicial
system.

RTHK recently declined to renew the contract of its staff member
Qoser, who is known for asking Hong Kong government officials and
lawmakers tough questions.

A Hong Kong police officer stands outside of the Apple Daily
headquarters in Hong Kong on June 17, 2021. (Adrian Yu/The Epoch
Times)

Chris Yeung, chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association,
said that the raid showed that press freedom in Hong Kong has been
“severely undermined” by the national security law, according to Apple
Daily.

“There is zero protection of news materials,” Yeung added.
Journalism Endangers China’s National Security: HK Official

Hong Kong police arrived at the Apple Daily headquarters at around
7:30 a.m. local time and sealed off all access to the building.
According to Apple Daily, police officers prevented the paper’s
journalists from working at their desks and accessed reporters’
computers.

At around 8 a.m. local time, the Hong Kong government issued a press
release, saying that police officers from the city’s national security
department had conducted a “search operation” at the paper’s
headquarters, which included seizing “journalistic materials.”

In a separate press release, the Hong Kong government said that the
five directors’ residences were searched.

Meanwhile, trading in shares of Next Digital at the Hong Kong Stock
Exchange was suspended.

At around 11 a.m. local time, Steve Li, superintendent of Hong Kong’s
national security unit, told local media that Hong Kong authorities
had frozen about $2.32 million ($18 million HKD) in assets from three
companies linked to Apple Daily.

Steve Li, superintendent of Hong Kong’s national security unit, speaks
to local media in Hong Kong on June 17, 2021. (Sung Pi-lung/The Epoch
Times)

He also said that the collusion charge was in relation to over 30
articles published by Apple Daily since 2019 that sought to have
foreign countries impose sanctions on China or Hong Kong, according to
Li.

Before the national security law was implemented in July last year,
the Hong Kong government announced that the law would not have
retrospective effects. It is unclear why now the Hong Kong authorities
are citing articles published before the national security law went
into effect as evidence of criminal behavior.

At noon, John Lee, Hong Kong’s security secretary, held a press
conference during which he accused Apple Daily executives of using
journalism as a “tool to endanger” national security. Additionally, he
asked that “normal journalists” keep their distance from the
“criminals” at Apple Daily.

Hong Kong police ended their raid at around 1:15 p.m. local time,
taking away with them computers and hard drives.

The raid on Apple Daily immediately drew concern from overseas
observers. Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s foreign minister, took to Twitter to
express his frustration at what the Hong Kong authorities were doing.

“Authoritarianism is waging a brutal war on @appledaily_hk, a
desperately endangered symbol of freedom in #HongKong,” Wu wrote.

He added: “I’m out of words to describe my anger & sadness at
witnessing this tragedy.”


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