Guwahati News Desk: The Hong Kong national security police charged two of the top editors and two editorial writers, at the now-defunct “Apple Daily”, the city’s largest pro-democracy newspaper, after it was forced to cease publication and got its assets frozen by the authorities.
The arrests were made on Wednesday, in which the Executive Editor-in-Chief of Apple Daily, Lam Man-Chung, was also detained.
The Associate Publisher and Deputy Chief Editor, Chan Pui-Mman, and the editorial writers Fung Wai-Kong and Yeung Ching-Kee, were also detained on Wednesday after their bail was revoked.
The four of them, aged between 51 and 57, were charged with conspiring to “collude with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security” under the city’s year-old national security law. As per the sources, they will be appearing in court on Thursday.
The Hong Kong security minister, Chris Tang, denied that the arrests would trigger a “white terror” a term referring to a climate of fear caused by political repression, among journalists.
Tang said, “Whoever committed an offense will be arrested, disregarding their background, whatever they do, or what are their professions. It doesn’t really matter. If they committed an offense, they will be arrested. And if there is any evidence, they will be prosecuted.”
The Hong Kong Journalists Association criticized the “repeated targeting of journalists” from Apple Daily, stating that it was “shocked and puzzled” by the arrest of Lam, since the newspaper had already ceased operations.
The association further asked the government to explain how news and publishing work which has been legally carried out and is protected under the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, could endanger national security. Regarding which, the association said in a statement on its Facebook page, “Freedom of the press and the freedom to publish are important cornerstones for the success of an international city.”
Photo | Arab News