Human Rights Watch urges Hong Kong to overturn convictions of journalists, end media crackdown

The Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international human rights watchdog, urged the Hong Kong government to overturn the politically motivated convictions of two journalists and stop its attack on media freedom as concerns over the National Security Law continues to persist in the China-controlled region.

On August 29, the Hong Kong District Court found two editors from the Defunct Stand News. Chung Pui-kuen, 54, the former editor-in-chief, and Patrick Lam, 36, the former acting editor-in-chief–along with the paper’s parent company, Best Pencil (Hong Kong) Limited, guilty of “conspiring to publish seditious materials.” Chung and Lam could face up to two years in prison.

Maya Wang, Human rights associate China director at Human Rights Watch, said, “The Hong Kong government is sending a dire message to journalists that reporting on issues of public concern will get you thrown in jail. The Hong Kong and Chinese governments should immediately quash Chung’s and Lam’s convictions and end the crackdown on media freedom”.

Throughout the 57-day trial, the prosecution submitted 17 articles from Stand News as evidence, claiming the acclaimed media outlet aimed to “incite hatred against the Hong Kong and central governments.”

The district court judge, selected by the government to handle national security cases, determined that 11 of these articles were “seditious.” Stand News was forced to shut down in December 2021 due to police raids and the arbitrary arrest of its staff members.

Under the National Security Law, both the Chinese and Hong Kong governments have swiftly acted to eliminate civil liberties in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong government has increasingly misused a broadly defined colonial-era sedition law to suppress peaceful expression. This law has been employed against children’s book authors, academics, individuals who distributed pro-independence flyers, and even those who clapped during the trial of a pro-democracy activist.

In March, following the Hong Kong government’s introduction of an even more severe national security law that broadens its authority to suppress dissent, the colonial-era sedition law was superseded by new legislation, which imposes penalties of up to seven years in prison.

Human Rights Watch also noted that while several governments and the United Nations have voiced concern over the rapid decline in freedom in Hong Kong since 2020, only a few have taken concrete actions. The United States is an exception, having imposed targeted sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials in response to the National Security Law.