Six former journalists and executives of the now-closed Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily pleaded guilty to conspiring with foreign troops on Tuesday. a charge punishable by life imprisonment.
This is the first time that the National Security Law, imposed by Beijing in mid-2020 to silence dissent, has been invoked against a media outlet and its staff.
Apple Daily, a critic of Chinese power, supported the pro-democracy movement that shook Hong Kong to its foundations in 2019. The paper closed in mid-2021 after funds were frozen and some of its executives, including founder Jimmy Lai, were arrested on charges of violating the National Security Act.
Four journalists and two former Apple Daily executives pleaded guilty in the city’s highest court to “conspiring with foreign forces to threaten national security.”
The Public Prosecution Service (MP) accused them of using Apple Daily to broadcast content demanding foreign sanctions against China. The MP presented as evidence more than 160 articles published since April 2019.
The National Security Act criminalizes subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.
The prosecution dropped the sedition charge in exchange for a confession to conspiracy.
The six defendants have been in prison for nearly a year and a half and will not be sentenced until after the trial of Lai and three companies that were part of the Apple Daily.
A prosecutor told the court that some of the six defendants would testify in the December trial of the famed Hong Kong media mogul, who has pleaded not guilty.
Hong Kong has dropped to 148th place this year on the World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
In 2002, when the index was first published, the area was ranked 18th and considered a haven for free speech in Asia.
Source: DN
