Hong Kong: Stand News Editors Found Guilty of Sedition
A Hong Kong court on Thursday found Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, former chief editors of the now-defunct media outlet Stand News, guilty of sedition....
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Facts
- A Hong Kong court on Thursday found Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, former chief editors of the now-defunct media outlet Stand News, guilty of sedition.[1][2]
- Both journalists, arrested in 2021, were charged under the colonial-era sedition law — instead of the 2020 national security law — for allegedly conspiring to publish seditious materials.[3][4]
- From the 17 articles published by Stand News that prosecutors presented as evidence of sedition, District Court Judge Kwok Wai-kin found that 11 sought to promote 'illegal ideologies' and to incite hatred against the central and Hong Kong governments.[5][6]
- In his judgment, Wai-kin ruled that Stand News had become a 'danger to national security,' adding that Pui-kuen and Lam used the publication as 'a tool to smear and vilify' Beijing.[7]
- Wai-kin also found Stand News' parent company, Best Pencil HK, guilty of promoting 'Hong Kong local autonomy' and held Stand News' co-founder Tony Tsoi Tung-ho liable for conspiring to publish seditious publications.[8][9]
- The journalists — who pleaded not guilty to the charges and have already spent a year in pre-trial custody before being granted bail — face a maximum jail term of two years. Their sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 26.[10][4]
Sources: [1]New York Post, [2]Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, [3]BBC News, [4]Guardian, [5]The Standard, [6]CNN, [7]The Times, [8]France 24, [9]South China Morning Post and [10]New York Times.
Narratives
- Anti-China narrative, as provided by New York Times. This verdict is another nail in the coffin for press freedom and free speech in Hong Kong. Pui-kuen and Lam had been operating within journalistic principles to deliver unbiased, uninfluenced news stories for the marginalized and the minority. Their conviction is unfair, undermines Hong Kong's self-portrayal as a bastion of free press in Asia, and risks descending the city further into authoritarianism.
- Pro-China narrative, as provided by RTHK. Pui-kuen and Lam distorted facts, attacked criminal procedures and law enforcement officials, and undermined the government's authority with fake news on public security and stability. The fact that their trial was Hong Kong's first involving media since 1997 and they weren't charged under national security law — which carries penalties up to life in prison — shows that the verdict is fair.
