Two journalists from a now-shuttered Hong Kong news site were sentenced to prison Thursday for sedition in a landmark press freedom case.
Former Stand News journalists Chung Pui-Kuen and Patrick Lam were found guilty and fined last month for conspiring to publish and reproduce seditious articles.
On Thursday they became the first in the city’s history to be sentenced for it, receiving sentences of 21 and 11 months respectively, although Lam was immediately released on medical grounds for time already served during the two-year trial.
Chung, Stand’s former editor-in-chief, and Lam, the outlet’s former acting editor-in-chief, both have denied all charges against them since their offices were first raided in 2021. Chung, 54, and Lam, 36, had spent more than 300 days in pretrial detention.
Thursday’s sentencing at the Wan Chai District Court had been scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. but didn’t get under way until Hong Kong Judge Kwok Wai Kin arrived two hours later to initiate proceedings. Sentences were handed down around 7 p.m., according to local media.
The landmark case centers on 17 articles that included stories featuring pro-democracy ex-lawmakers, as well as commentary from pro-democracy activists.
Prosecutors argued that the articles promoted “illegal ideologies,” making the publication both a political platform and news outlet. Judge Kwok deemed 11 of the published articles seditious.
Reaction
Ronson Chan, a former editor at Stand News, told VOA today’s sentencing was bittersweet for him.
“I’m happy that Patrick Lam could be released at once, with the judge giving the sentence for the appropriate period, but I still feel sorry Chung needed to go back to jail for 10 months. He created a very good and liberal platform for us, journalists, and the staff of Stand News. We enjoyed a very good freedom of news and freedom of press. We had our own view to make what we thought was valuable to do. It seems Mr. Chung is the only person to pay for our liberal and freedom.”
The Hong Kong Journalist Association said Thursday’s sentencing exposes “real risks” for journalism in the Special Administrative Region.
“The two men’s convictions and sentences reflect the ongoing decline of press freedom in Hong Kong and the real dangers media workers in the territory are facing while performing their duties,” the statement said.
Aleksandra Bielakowska of Paris-based Reporters Without Borders told VOA the sentencing constitutes “yet another nail in the coffin for press freedom in Hong Kong, dangerously laying another red line for journalists in the city.”
“Deliberately targeting independent media and its journalists has left a huge void in Hong Kong’s media landscape that will be very difficult to rebuild,” she said. “There are still a few independent media that try to keep up operations, but they are already tremendously afraid of their safety.
“This verdict is only underlining the reality that judges and courts are not fulfilling [their] duty of protecting residents but have become a political tool, used to threaten those who dare to speak independently, including journalists.”
Thursday’s ruling represents the first sedition case against journalists in Hong Kong since the handover from Britain to China in 1997. Among Hong Kong’s last remaining media outlets to openly criticize the government, Stand News aggressively covered the Beijing-backed political crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Beijing later imposed a National Security Law with vaguely worded provisions banning secession, subversion and foreign interference, resulting in the arrests of at least 28 journalists and press freedom advocates, 10 of whom remain jailed. The crackdown also shuttered more than a dozen media outlets.
Hong Kong’s legislature in March passed the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance — commonly known as Article 23 — with prison sentences of up to seven years for those found guilty of seditious crimes including “collusion” with foreign forces, which, according to HKJA, impedes reporting.
“There is nothing wrong with safeguarding national security, but allowing journalists to speak out and enabling society to speak freely is necessary to maintain Hong Kong's prosperity and stability and is also an important part of promoting the city's international image,” HKJA said in a statement.
“Officials may insist that Hong Kong's press freedom is unhampered, but the public knows the truth.”
Hong Kong’s international press freedom ranking nosedived in recent years, placing it 135th in the Reporters Without Borders rankings for 2024. It once boasting a high ranking of 18 in 2002, according to the group.
