Five hundred Hong Kong police officers stormed a popular Hong Kong daily, the
Apple Daily,
early Thursday morning.
known for his pro-democratic editorial line, to search the newsroom and computers of journalists and even seize their personal phones and laptops. The agents also arrested five executives of this newspaper owned by media mogul Jimmy Lai, a staunch critic of China who is serving two successive jail terms for a total of 20 months for having participated in protest demonstrations considered illegal by the Hong Kong authorities. Official sources in the city cited by Reuters agency justified the police operation by invoking a possible violation of the National Security Law, approved by China in May 2020.
This controversial rule was promulgated to punish with sentences of up to life imprisonment everything that Beijing defines as "subversion, terrorism and collaboration with foreign forces."
Critics of this law - which with the raid this Thursday is applied for the first time to a Hong Kong media outlet - consider that its real objective is to put an end in practice to the regime of freedoms that the autonomous territory has traditionally enjoyed. .
More information
The keys to the national security law that China will impose in Hong Kong
Eight to 18-month prison sentences for nine prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy leaders
One of the fears of critics of this Chinese law is precisely the criminalization of journalists and the media who question the policies imposed by Beijing, a fear confirmed by statements by John Lee, Hong Kong's Secretary of Security. Lee on Thursday defined the
Apple Daily
writing
as "the scene of a crime" and declared that the search of the media's premises was directed against those who use the information as a "tool to endanger" national security.
The Hong Kong Secretary of Security later pointed out that the five executives of the newspaper have been arrested for conspiring to "use the work of journalists" in order to incite "foreign forces" to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and China. Those responsible for the
Apple Daily
in police custody are its editor-in-chief, Ryan Law, chief executive officer, Cheung Kim-hung, chief operating officer, Chow Tat-kuen, deputy editor-in-chief, Chan Puiman, and chief editor. writing, Cheung Chi-wai.
For his part, the chief commissioner of the autonomous Chinese city, Li Kwai-wah, specified that the articles in the newspaper that violate the National Security Law even date back to 2019. Although the rule was approved a year later and, at least in In theory, it is not retroactive, its articles allow prosecutors to use previous acts, such as the publication of critical articles, as evidence to justify a conviction.
A very popular medium
Apple Daily
is a very popular newspaper in Hong Kong, mixing pro-democracy speech with celebrity gossip and research on power.
The search and arrest of five of its main executives that took place this Thursday is the latest blow by the authorities of the Chinese autonomous city against this newspaper founded 26 years ago.
A month ago, Beijing announced a freeze on the assets of its owner, Jimmy Lai, including his shares in the
Apple Daily
publishing company
.
Lai was arrested in his own newspaper office in December last year. On that occasion, 200 policemen also raided the premises of the publication.
In this Thursday's raid, despite the irruption of 500 police officers in the newspaper, some of its workers managed to record images of the agents using the journalists' computers. The informants could not even take their notebooks with them. The newspaper's chief editor, Ryan Law, came out of the newsroom in handcuffs and flanked by several policemen. In an open letter addressed to its readers, the Hong Kong newspaper has claimed to be the victim of an "attack led by the [Chinese] regime", but that its staff "will remain in their posts with loyalty and will fight to the end."
Steven Butler, Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said that these arrests and the raid on the Hong Kong newspaper, carried out under China's "Orwellian National Security Law" destroy "any fiction that Hong Kong supports. Press freedom".
"China, which controls Hong Kong, could end this newspaper, which it sees as an annoying critic, a very high price that the population of a city that has enjoyed decades of free access to information will have to pay," deplored the responsible for the organization for press freedom.
