Six editors and directors of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, which stopped circulating just over a year ago, pleaded guilty before the Hong Kong Supreme Court on Tuesday (22) to colluding with foreign forces, a crime punishable by life imprisonment. under the national security law of the territory.
Former employees of the newspaper said they supported, alongside tycoon Jimmy Lai, owner of Apple Daily and critic of the Chinese communist regime, requests for sanctions and economic blockades by other countries against China between July 2020 and June 2021.
With the admission of guilt, former members of the newspaper can receive lighter sentences. Some of them even plan to help the prosecution convict Lai, who goes on trial soon, which could lower their sentences further, the South China Morning Post reported.
Prosecutor Anthony Chau said during the hearing that the newspaper was used as a kind of platform to defend sanctions. “These were articles that intended to make appeals and propaganda to directly and illegally defend a political agenda,” he said.
Still according to Chau, the vehicle supported citizens to participate in pro-democracy protests. Apple Daily succumbed to pressure exerted by Hong Kong authorities after the wave of protests that gripped the region, a former British colony returned to China in 1997.
Chau said officials sought dialogue primarily with the US, UK, European Union (EU), Canada and Germany to seek attention. He singled out Washington, which he accused of meddling in Hong Kong’s internal affairs “by making baseless accusations to undermine local prosperity and stability”.
Those who pleaded guilty are Cheung Kim-hung, former chief executive of Next Digital, owner of the tabloid, Chan Pui-man, former co-publisher, Ryan Law, former editor-in-chief, Lam Man-chung, former editor chief, Fung Wai-kong, former editor-in-chief of the English version of the newspaper, and Yeung Ching-kee, former editorialist.
Apple Daily stopped circulating on June 24, 2021, just days after more than 500 police raided the newsroom, arrested five executives and froze millions in assets, compromising the company’s financial maintenance. At the time, Lai was already in prison for participating in acts against the Chinese regime.
Lai faces multiple charges under the umbrella of Hong Kong’s national security law, a mechanism put in place in the mid-2020s to increase the rights of opponents and, in practice, end any autonomy Hong Kong had from mainland China.
The measure was used, among other things, to restrict freedom of the press, with websites being taken offline for publishing content about demonstrations and the democratic aspirations of the local population.
Lai and his three companies have pleaded not guilty to charges of threatening national security. Some of the editors and directors who pleaded guilty on Tuesday are expected to testify at the tycoon’s trial, according to the Hong Kong prosecutor’s office.
Sentences will be handed down at the end of the trial, which will begin on the 1st and should last 30 days. The national security law establishes punishments up to life imprisonment for acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.
About a week ago, 20 press freedom organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, sent a joint letter to Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee asking for Lai’s immediate release. In the text, the organizations say that Lee, a Beijing-allied official who headed security in the region during the height of the crackdown on pro-democracy protests, said he would protect press freedom and match it to expected international levels.
“But those promises ring hollow when Lai, one of Hong Kong’s best-known media figures, is behind bars for his commitment to critical journalism,” the document reads. “This journalism is essential to its efforts to establish Hong Kong as a global financial center, for which a free press and judicial independence are vital elements.”
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