Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Newspaper May Stop Publication This Week

The parent company of Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily will decide this week whether to shut down the publication.

The newspaper’s apparent imminent closure comes just days after authorities froze $2.3 million of its assets last week, shortly after more than 500 police officers raided Apple Daily’s offices and arrested its chief editor, Ryan Law, and four other executives with the newspaper and Next Digital.  Mark Simon, an advisor to jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, told news outlets that executives of Next Digital were planning to hold a board meeting Monday to discuss the situation. Lai and Chief Executive Officer Cheung Kim-hung have been charged with colluding with a foreign country and have been denied bail. The newspaper’s offices were raided last August after Lai was arrested at his house on suspicion of foreign collusion.