Hong Kong police raid pro-democracy media outlet, arrest 6 for sedition
Global News
The raid further raises concerns about the freedom of speech and that of the media in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Hundreds of Hong Kong national security police raided the office of online pro-democracy media outlet Stand News on Wednesday and arrested six people, including senior staff, for “conspiracy to publish seditious publications.”
The raid further raises concerns about the freedom of speech and that of the media in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise a wide range of individual rights would be protected.
Police said in a statement it was conducting a search with a warrant authorizing it “to search and seize relevant journalistic materials.”
“Over 200 uniformed and plain clothes police officers have been deployed during the operation. The search operation is underway,” the statement said.
Sedition is not a crime under the sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing on the city in June 2020.
But recent court judgements have freed authorities to use powers conferred by the new legislation to deploy previously sparsely used colonial-era laws, including the Crime Ordinance which covers sedition.
Authorities say the national security law has restored order after often-violent pro-democracy unrest in 2019 and that it does not curb rights and freedoms. Critics say the legislation is a tool to quash dissent.
In June, hundreds of police raided the premises of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, arresting executives for alleged “collusion with a foreign country.” The newspaper subsequently shut down.