Hong Kong National Security Police Raid Stand News Outlet, Arrest 6

Hong Kong national security police raided media outlet Stand News and arrested six people connected to the platform for sedition, local media reported, in the latest action likely to fuel concern about press freedoms in the city. Here's the scene outside the Stand News office after the arrests.

Those arrested Wednesday for conspiring to publish seditious materials under the colonial-era Crimes Ordinance included acting Editor-in-Chief Patrick Lam and former Editor-in-Chief Chung Pui-kuen, according to the South China Morning Post newspaper. The government said in a statement that six current and former senior employees of an online media company were arrested on sedition charges by national security police, without providing names.

Denise Ho, a singer who testified about Hong Kong before the U.S. Congress, and Margaret Ng, a lawyer and ex-lawmaker, were among former Stand News board members arrested, the Post said. Ex-board members Chow Tat-chi and Christine Fang Meng-sang were also arrested. Ho’s arrest was confirmed on her verified Facebook page.

Ronson Chan, who is chairman of Hong Kong Journalists Association in addition to serving as deputy assignment editor for Stand News, also taken from his home to assist the investigation, HK01 reported. It had earlier said that Chan was among those arrested.

Stand News had emerged as one of Hong Kong’s most aggressive independent media outlets since its founding in 2014, with reporters and camera crews a near-constant presence documenting democracy protests in 2019. The outlet had braced for police scrutiny in the wake of security probes into the Apple Daily newspaper, announcing in June that it would preemptively purge opinion pieces from its site and stop accepting subscriptions and sponsorships.

The arrests came a day after Jimmy Lai, founder of the now-closed Apple Daily, had a charge of conspiracy to produce and distribute seditious publications laid against him, along with six of his former staffers, in addition to charges on the city’s national security law. The jailed 74-year-old has become the focus of the government’s criminal probes into the pro-democracy opposition.

Since Beijing passed a sweeping national security law last year the Hong Kong government has imposed strict limits on what constitutes free speech. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said in July that a “law needs to be introduced” to police what the media publishes.