At 6 o'clock in the morning today (29th), the National Security Office of the police launched an operation to arrest 3 men and 3 women current or former senior officials of Position News. The arrested persons included the former editor-in-chief of Position News Zhong Peiquan, acting editor-in-chief Lin Shaotong, and former Directors Zhou Dazhi, Wu Aiyi, Fang Minsheng, He Yunshi, and Chen Langsheng, deputy interview director of Position News, assisted in the investigation.
This is the two consecutive days that the Department of Justice and the police charged the "Apple Daily" and arrested senior officials of the "Stance News" for "conspiracy to publish seditious publications." Since the reunification, media organizations have been prosecuted and arrested for seditious crimes.
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This morning, the National Security Department of the police used a warrant issued by the court in accordance with Schedule 1 of the Implementation Rules of Article 43 of the Hong Kong National Security Act to search the office of Position News in Kwun Tong. The search warrant includes the power to authorize the police to search and retrieve news materials.
The Information Services Department stated that the six senior officials and former senior officials of the "Stance News" were suspected of conspiring to publish seditious publications in violation of Sections 9 and 10 of the Criminal Offences Ordinance.
Sections 9 and 10 of the Criminal Offences Ordinance were enacted in the 1930s when Hong Kong was still a British colony.
In 1952, during the "March First Incident", "Ta Kung Pao" reprinted an article in "People's Daily" to protest against the actions of the British Hong Kong government. The British Hong Kong government accused the British Hong Kong government of publishing seditious texts and was suspended for 12 days.
In recent years, the police and the Department of Justice have arrested and charged the former convener of "Student Action Source" Zhong Hanlin for publishing seditious publications, and five officers of the Hong Kong Speech Therapist Federation, mainly non-governmental organizations and trade unions.
However, the government recently targeted media organizations such as "Apple Daily" and "Situation News" for publishing seditious publications. Taking into account the arrests of 7 former senior officials of "Apple Daily" yesterday and 6 people of "Situation News" today, there were 13 media in two days. Staff of the agency were charged and arrested for publishing seditious publications. This is the first time a media agency has been prosecuted and arrested for seditious crimes after the reunification.
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Yesterday (28th) the Department of Justice has charged Li Zhiying and 7 former senior officials of the "Apple Daily" with one count of publishing seditious publications, stating that they had a limited relationship with Apple Daily from April 1, 2019 to June 24, 2021. The company, Apple Daily Printing Co., Ltd., Apple Daily Internet Co., Ltd., and others, conspired to print, publish, solicit to sell, distribute, display or copy seditious publications with the intent to arouse hatred or contempt for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government and the Hong Kong judicial system, Or inciting rebellion against the above-mentioned two, and inciting residents to try not to follow legal channels, urging to change other matters stipulated in Hong Kong according to law, and triggering dissatisfaction and rebellion among Hong Kong residents, and inciting others to use violence, and counseling Make others not abiding by the law or disobeying legal orders.
During the 1967 riots, the British Hong Kong government seized three leftist newspapers, including "Tian Feng Daily", "Hong Kong Evening News" and "New Midday News".
In addition to the above-mentioned "Ta Kung Pao" case in 1952, during the 1967 riots, the British Hong Kong government also seized three leftist newspapers, including "Tian Feng Daily", "Hong Kong Evening News" and "New Midday News".
However, the British Hong Kong government cited the Emergency Law and promulgated a number of emergency laws to expand police powers, allowing the police to arrest, search, close places, and make prosecutions faster.
The emergency laws include "prevention of seditious speech" and "prevention of seditious slogans."
Looking through the information, the "Tian Feng Daily" was charged with "publishing inflammatory text" for newspaper headlines; "Hong Kong Night News" was also charged with "publishing false news" for short commentary bans; and the "New Midday News" editorial involved "Publishing a text map caused dissatisfaction with the police force."
However, after the 1967 riots, the British Hong Kong government never prosecuted media organizations for seditious crimes.
Live | Police National Security Department arrested 6 senior executives from "Position News" including Zhong Peiquan and He Yunshi Searching Stand News | Police National Security Division arrested 3 men and 3 women including Zhong Peiquan, Wu Aiyi, He Yunshi, Li Zhiying and Apple editors for violation of National Security Law 7 Defendant charged with publishing seditious publications
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