'Apple Daily', the last opposition newspaper in Hong Kong, plans to close due to political and economic pressures

The last opposition newspaper in Hong Kong still to be published on paper is on the ropes and may be running out of its last days.

After last week the police arrested five of his senior officials - including the director - and frozen his bank accounts, on suspicion of violations of the draconian National Security law,

Apple Daily

is considering the closure as of Saturday for not being able to pay wages to your employees.

The board of directors of the company that owns the newspaper, Next Digital, will meet on Friday to make a final decision on the future of this 26-year-old medium, a symbol of freedom of expression in the former British colony.

If the authorities ignore the media's request to access its accounts, it will publish its latest issue next Saturday.

More information

• Joshua Wong, sentenced to 10 more months in jail in Hong Kong for participating in the Tiananmen vigil

• Tycoon Jimmy Lai, sentenced to 14 months in prison for his participation in the Hong Kong protests

On Sunday, the newspaper had submitted a request for at least part of the 18 million Hong Kong dollars (2 million euros) it has withheld in its accounts to be unfrozen, in order to pay the salaries of its 1,300 employees. If the board of directors opts for closure, the newspaper's website will stop updating on Friday at 11:59 p.m. local time. In that case, its latest edition will go on sale on Saturday.

According to an internal memorandum, the company has already begun accepting employee resignations without meeting the statutory notice period. “The company's desire is for everyone to carry out their work with pride until the last moment, but it is difficult to calculate the risks. Each person must decide whether to continue or not, ”says the document, quoted by the digital

Hong Kong Free Press

. "For those who continue, we hope to meet

Apple Daily

standards

and spare no effort in fulfilling our mission."

The newspaper has become one of the great targets of punitive measures by the Hong Kong authorities since the entry into force, almost exactly a year ago, of the National Security law imposed by Beijing.

It has suffered arrests of its main charges, records in the writing and seizure of material, although until now it has always continued its operations and attended its daily appointment with the readers.

Already in August, its owner, the millionaire Jimmy Lai, was arrested on charges included in those regulations.

Waiting to be tried by them, the 73-year-old magnate was already sentenced last month to serve 14 months in prison for his participation in the protests that paralyzed the enclave during the second half of 2019 and that demanded the maintenance of Hong Kong autonomy.

Last Thursday, the newspaper's director, Ryan Law, and the CEO, Cheung Kim-hung, as well as three other senior officials from the tabloid, were arrested.

Law and Cheung were formally charged on Friday with collaboration with foreign forces, one of the crimes punishable by the National Security Law with up to life imprisonment.

Both were denied bail.

The charges stem from around thirty articles published in the newspaper throughout 2019 - when the National Security law did not yet exist, which in theory lacks retroactive character - in which, according to the Hong Kong Police, they are asked to Foreign governments to impose sanctions against the local government and the authorities in Beijing.

Blow to press freedom

Both in the case of the arrest of Lai and in that of the five high-ranking officials of the newspaper, readers ran to embrace this outlet, controversial on many occasions - it supported controversial policies of Donald Trump, and has received accusations of sexism in some of its coverage- but turned into a banner of a freedom of the press that was once the pride of the old colony and that now seems to be in its last throes.

The day after the arrests,

Apple Daily

published runs of half a million copies, both of which were sold out in a matter of hours.

In an editorial published this Monday, the newspaper acknowledges the "immense" impact of the arrests and raids, in which the police have seized nearly 40 computers from journalists. "The searches and arrests have had a psychological impact, and reporters are much more concerned about overstepping the lines of what is allowed when it comes to doing their daily work," notes the tabloid. "These searches and arrests have sounded an alarm for the freedom of the local press at a volume that had not been heard until now," he says.

Apple Daily

is not the only Hong Kong outlet that has come under pressure over the past year.

RTHK public television has undergone a change in leadership and the elimination of one of its most popular Cantonese-language programs,

Headliner

, with current satirical content.

The Secretary of Security of the Hong Kong autonomous government, John Lee, assures that the measures against the newspaper "are not directed against the press", but against "those who exploit journalism as a tool to endanger national security."

The probable closure of the newspaper is announced in the same week in which it has been announced that, for the first time in a quarter of a century, this year will not be called the usual march of July 1, the anniversary of the 1997 transfer of the sovereignty in the former UK colony to China, fearing consequences under the National Security Act.