By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Dec. 30: The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Chinese and Hong Kong authorities to release all seven people arrested in a police raid on Wednesday at Stand News, an outlet shut down by the government, on account of sedition charges under the controversial National Security Law. “We call on PRC and Hong Kong authorities to cease targeting Hong Kong’s free and independent media and to immediately release those journalists and media executives who have been unjustly detained and charged,” Blinken said in a press conference.
The seven arrested include prominent activist and pop star Denise Ho and advocate Margaret Ng, along with former Editors Patrick Lam and Chung Pui-kuen; the four noted personalities were detained for “conspiracy to publish seditious publications”. Secretary Blinken condemned the arrest of journalists, and said that “by silencing independent media, PRC and local authorities undermine Hong Kong’s credibility and viability”.
Both the former editors-in-chief have been charged and were brought to court in West Kowloon on Thursday, whereas others remain in custody for over 24 hours. The Hong Kong police said that they would prosecute the whole company for sedition. The news outlet has been one of the prominent pro-democracy media outlets in the city, after the largest pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, which was forced to close in June after a similar crackdown. The founder Jimmy Lai was arrested in April, and is currently on trial for alleged “print, publish, sell, offer for sale, distribute, display or reproduce seditious publication”.
Several appeals from release and solidarity messages were reported online. The Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club said in a statement, “These actions are a further blow to press freedom in Hong Kong and will continue to chill the media environment in the city following a difficult year for the city’s news outlets.” Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen also condemned the raid in a tweet, “We in Taiwan regret to see their detention & call on the international community to stand up for freedom & democracy in HK.”
However, Hong Kong leader Carry Lam rejected calls for release on Thursday, saying that these arrests were not aimed at the media industry, “These actions have nothing to do with so-called suppression of press freedom. . . Journalism is not seditious but seditious activities could not be condoned under the guise of news reporting.”
