Hong Kong: Conviction of Stand News journalists is 'one more nail in the coffin' for press freedom

In response to the “sedition” conviction of the defunct Hong Kong media outlet Stand News and two of its former editors, Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s China Director, said: 

“This dismaying verdict is one more nail in the coffin for press freedom in Hong Kong. Stand News and its two editors convicted today have been targeted simply for doing their legitimate journalistic work. 

“The Stand News case is the first trial for sedition – and the first national-security related conviction – of a media company and individual journalists since 1997, when Hong Kong was handed over from Britain to China. As a signal of potential future crackdowns, this verdict risks having dire ramifications for press freedom in the city. 

“The court’s judgment that 11 articles on the Stand News website were ‘seditious’ will invariably force journalists working in Hong Kong to think twice about what they write and further entrench a climate of fear in the city, fuelled by a succession of repressive national security laws. 

“The Hong Kong authorities should end their use of sedition laws, which are repressive offences harking back to the colonial era, to muzzle freedom of the press and other human rights. The journalists convicted today have committed no internationally recognised crime and their conviction should be quashed.” 

Attack on press freedom

Stand News’ former chief editor Chung Pui-kuen, former acting chief editor Patrick Lam and parent company Best Pencil (Hong Kong) Limited were today convicted of conspiring to publish seditious publications under Hong Kong’s sedition law as provided for at the time by the Crimes Ordinance. 

Sentencing is scheduled for 26 September 2024, with both Chung and Lam remaining on bail until then. The maximum sentence is two years in prison for the sedition offence under the then Crimes Ordinance. This offence is now part of the new national security law – the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance – which was enacted in March 2024 and carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. 

The prosecution against the journalists and the media company was based on 17 allegedly seditious articles, including news reporting, interviews, profiles, and opinion pieces. The judge today held that 11 of them were seditious publications.  

Stand News, a non-profit digital news outlet, ceased operations and deleted its website in December 2021 after its newsroom was raided by over 200 national security police officers.  

The trial began in October 2022 and its conclusion was postponed numerous times prior to today’s long-awaited verdict and sentencing.