International Courant
Two Hong Kong journalists will hear the result of their historic sedition trial this week, in a verdict that might set the tone for the way forward for journalism within the Chinese language metropolis.
The 2 journalists, Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, former editors of the now-shuttered unbiased information outlet Stand Information, resist two years in jail if discovered responsible below Hong Kong’s colonial-era sedition legal guidelines.
The duo have been arrested in December 2021 by Hong Kong’s nationwide safety police, together with 5 different Stand Information employees and board members, together with Denise Ho, a pop singer who has risen to pro-democracy activist, and Margaret Ng, a extensively revered former politician and lawyer.
Anti-sedition legal guidelines have been launched in Hong Kong when it was a British colony, however lay dormant till 2020, when Beijing imposed new nationwide safety legal guidelines in response to months of anti-government protests a yr earlier.
Along with new crimes resembling “collaboration with overseas powers” or “subversion,” prosecutors started charging Hong Kong residents with the crime of “sedition” for the primary time in additional than 50 years.
Whereas this isn’t the primary trial on sedition prices because the safety legislation sparked a political shift, the trial of Chung and Lam will likely be carefully watched as it’s the first time it straight includes journalism and the media, a Hong Kong observer following the case mentioned.
The observer informed Al Jazeera that of their ruling the judges must outline what is taken into account “official reporting” and what’s thought of “incitement to hatred” towards the federal government.
“That is anticipated to be the primary trial on incitement in relation to journalism, so we will count on the decide to have to attract a line between what is suitable and unacceptable journalism, particularly if they really discover the defendants responsible,” mentioned the individual, who requested to not be recognized for worry {of professional} repercussions.
Prosecutors accuse Chung and Lam of conspiring to publish 17 inflammatory articles and opinion items crucial of the federal government, which turned Stand Information right into a “political platform” relatively than an unbiased media outlet. The articles included information studies from Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp and commentary from political figures residing in exile.
Former Stand Information editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen (proper) and former performing editor Patrick Lam will likely be informed their destiny on Thursday (File: Louise Delmotte/AP Photograph)
In the course of the trial, protection lawyer Audrey Eu argued that not solely did Chung and Lam not write the articles in query, however that the prosecution had failed to indicate how they posed a “actual threat to nationwide safety” or served as a political platform.
She mentioned the information outlet’s work was within the public curiosity and that because the “fourth property” it had an obligation to maintain a test on the Hong Kong authorities within the hope that this is able to enhance governance.
Eu additionally criticised the irregular conduct of the prosecution in the course of the trial. For instance, throughout cross-examination and pleadings, reference was made to nearly 600 new items of proof that the prosecution had not submitted earlier than the beginning of the trial.
Eric Lai, a researcher on the Georgetown Middle for Asian Legislation, notes that the conviction charge for sedition because the prices have been reinstated has reached one hundred pc. He expects Chung and Lam, who spent practically a yr in custody earlier than being launched on bail firstly of the trial, to even be discovered responsible.
“I don’t count on a rights-respecting end result given the intolerant development of courtroom rulings in Hong Kong since 2020. They don’t even worth and stability the safety of elementary human rights resembling freedom of speech and expression with the federal government’s overly broad nationwide safety agenda,” Lai informed Al Jazeera.
‘Silencing unbiased voices’
Stand Information was shut down shortly after a police raid in December 2021. The information website additionally deleted its on-line archive.
Though it was a comparatively small settlement, its speedy decline had repercussions past Hong Kong, the newest signal of the modifications within the metropolis as soon as thought of the freest in Asia.
When it closed, Stand Information was one of many few pro-democracy information shops nonetheless in enterprise. The favored Apple Every day tabloid had been shut down six months earlier after a whole lot of nationwide safety brokers raided its newsroom and arrested senior executives and founder Jimmy Lai.
The crackdown on Stand Information has been criticized by human rights teams and a few Western authorities officers, together with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who described the outlet as “one of many few remaining bastions of free and unbiased media” in Hong Kong.
“By silencing unbiased media, (Chinese language) and native authorities are undermining Hong Kong’s credibility and viability. A assured authorities unafraid of the reality embraces a free press,” Blinken mentioned on the time.
Then-leader Carrie Lam denied the media have been focused and mentioned releasing these arrested would violate the rule of legislation.
Shortly after the raid on Stand Information, unbiased information outlet Citizen Information additionally voluntarily closed down, citing considerations concerning the “deteriorating media local weather” in Hong Kong. They have been adopted by 4 different unbiased information shops, in line with media watchdog Reporters With out Borders, which screens the Hong Kong media panorama.
Town’s press freedom rating fell from 73rd out of 180 territories and international locations in RSF’s annual World Press Freedom Index in 2019 to one hundred and thirty fifth final yr, simply above South Sudan.
“The Hong Kong Particular Administrative Area of the Folks’s Republic of China, as soon as a bastion of press freedom, has suffered an unprecedented sequence of setbacks since 2020, when Beijing handed a nationwide safety legislation geared toward silencing unbiased voices,” the media watchdog mentioned.
Stand Information was shut down and deleted its on-line archive after a police operation in December 2021 (Vincent Yu/AP Photograph)
The decline is even higher when in comparison with 2002, 5 years after the handover of Hong Kong to China and the primary yr the index was compiled by RSF. At the moment, Hong Kong was ranked 18.
Overseas media have additionally begun to maneuver positions beforehand based mostly in Hong Kong to locations together with South Korea and Taiwan.
The native and worldwide shops that also exist have typically run into issues.
In 2022, the Hong Kong Overseas Correspondents’ Membership scrapped the Human Rights Press Awards over considerations that they’d “inadvertently” violate native legal guidelines, amid plans to award Stand Information with a number of prizes.
The awards have now moved to Taiwan, the place many journalists report on East Asia.
Final month, The Wall Road Journal fired Hong Kong reporter Selina Cheng shortly after she was elected president of the Hong Kong Journalists Affiliation. The journalist reportedly requested Cheng to step down or lose her place.
Cheng mentioned the US newspaper informed her that its staff “shouldn’t be seen as advocates of press freedom in a rustic like Hong Kong”.
The affiliation beforehand drew the ire of Hong Kong’s safety chief Chris Tang for “siding” with protesters in 2019. He additionally accused the group of accepting cash from the US authorities.
The journal beforehand informed Al Jazeera that Cheng’s position turned redundant when the newspaper moved its Asian headquarters from Hong Kong to Singapore.
In the meantime, the Hong Kong authorities has additional tightened anti-sedition legal guidelines, which it says are crucial to make sure the media doesn’t “endanger” nationwide safety.
In April, an area model of the nationwide safety legislation, often known as Article 23, was handed.
The brand new legislation provides a number of new offenses, together with treason, sabotage and espionage, and permits police to detain suspects for as much as 16 days with out cost. Sedition has additionally been added and its scope has been expanded to incorporate “incitement to hatred” towards the Chinese language Communist Social gathering.
In response to Amnesty Worldwide, the utmost sentences have been elevated from a most of two years in jail to seven years, or 10 years for instances involving “exterior powers” resembling overseas governments.
Hong Kong chief John Lee mentioned Article 23, which was compelled to be shelved by a earlier authorities after mass protests, would additional defend the town from issues resembling political unrest, sabotage and overseas infiltration.
The federal government claimed the provisions have been much like legal guidelines handed by Australia, the UK and Singapore to sort out covert and overt overseas affect of their political programs.
Regina Ip, a member of the town’s pro-Beijing legislative council, wrote in an April op-ed within the native South China Morning Put up that Hong Kong has a “constitutional, authorized and ethical responsibility to safeguard nationwide safety” and that the nation has failed to take action since abandoning the legislation practically 27 years in the past.
“Crimes resembling treason, sedition, espionage and theft of state secrets and techniques have been on our statute books for many years,” she wrote. “However many provisions are ineffective and outdated. For each constitutional and sensible causes, Hong Kong must replace the present legal guidelines.”
Hong Kong braces for Stand Information ruling in newest check for media freedom | Courts Information
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