The Federalist BY: SHAWN FLEETWOOD
Hong Kong pro-democracy news outlet Stand News was forced to shut down on Wednesday following a police raid and the arrest of several staff members on suspicion of “seditious publication” offenses. The move comes amid a crackdown on press freedoms by communist Chinese authorities.
According to Hong Kong Free Press, “[O]ver 200 national security police officers were deployed to raid the Kwun Tong offices of the non-profit online outlet in the early hours of Wednesday,” with authorities arresting seven people linked to the outlet “on suspicion of breaching the colonial-era Crimes Ordinance by conspiring to publish seditious publications.” At least four current staff members were also taken into custody for further questioning.
The arrests included Stand News’s former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and former acting chief editor Patrick Lam, who were “officially charged with allegedly conspiring to publish seditious publications” by a city court on Thursday. Both Pui-kuen and Lam have also been denied bail, with acting chief magistrate Peter Law saying that “he was not satisfied that there were sufficient grounds for believing that they would not continue to commit acts endangering national security if bail was extended.”
