Two former chief editors of defunct outlet Stand News have been found guilty of sedition, marking the first such conviction of journalists in Hong Kong since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Stand News’ former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen, 54, appeared in front of judge Kwok Wai-kin at Wan Chai’s District Court on Thursday to hear the long-awaited verdict. The media outlet’s former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam, 36, was not present for the hearing due to a health issue.
The chief superintendent of Hong Kong’s national security police Steve Li entered the courtroom alongside prosecutors shortly after 2.15 pm. Defence lawyers entered soon afterwards. Former Stand News employees and ex-lawmaker Shiu Ka-chun were among those sitting in the public gallery.
Chung looked serious as he sat alone in the defendant’s dock while waiting for Kwok to enter the courtroom. The hearing was scheduled to begin at 2.30 pm, with the judge absent until around 3.35 pm.
Upon hearing the verdict, Chung appeared emotionless.
“The court rules that the political atmosphere was extremely heated at the time of the case. Many residents were dissatisfied with or even opposing the [Hong Kong] and [central] governments,” Kwok wrote in a Chinese-language judgement.
“Under such context, the court found 11 out of the 17 articles to be seditious,” Kwok continued.
The prosecution presented 17 articles published by Stand News as evidence of sedition, arguing that the outlet had sought to incite hatred against authorities through them.
The 17 Stand News articles presented as evidence of sedition – click to view.
*Those in red were ruled “seditious” by the court.
- Profile of Gwyneth Ho, a candidate in the 2020 legislative primaries held by the pro-democracy camp, published on July 7, 2020.
Profile of Owen Chow, a candidate in the 2020 legislative primaries held by the pro-democracy camp, published on July 27, 2020.Profile of Fergus Leung, a candidate in the 2020 legislative primaries held by the pro-democracy camp, published on August 12, 2020.- Commentary by Chan Pui-man, Apple Daily’s former associate publisher, criticising speech crimes, published on September 12, 2020.
- Commentary by Nathan Law, a former lawmaker now in self-exile, on “how to resist” under the national security law, published on September 20, 2020.
Profile of Law on his “battlefront” of calling for sanctions on the Hong Kong government in the UK, published on December 9, 2020.- Commentary by Law on “resilience in a chaotic world,” published on December 13, 2020.
Feature interview with Ted Hui, a former lawmaker in self-exile, after he fled Hong Kong with his family, published on December 14, 2020.Feature interview with Baggio Leung, a former lawmaker in self-exile, as he called for sanctions on Hong Kong and a “lifeboat scheme for Hongkongers,” published on December 15, 2020.- Commentary by Sunny Cheung, an activist in self-exile, responding to being wanted by the Hong Kong government, published on December 28, 2020.
- Commentary by Allan Au, a veteran journalist, on “new words in 2020,” which included “national security,” “disqualified” and “in exile,” published on December 29, 2020.
- Commentary by Au calling a national security trial a show, published on February 3, 2021.
- Commentary by Law paralleling the mass arrests of candidates in the democrats’ primaries to mass arrests during Taiwan’s white terror period, published on March 2, 2021.
- Commentary by Au accusing the authorities of “lawfare” in usage of the sedition law, published on June 1, 2021.
- Commentary by Au describing Hong Kong as a disaster scene after the implementation of national security law, published on June 22, 2021.
- Feature about CUHK graduates’ march on campus to mourn the second anniversary of the police-student clash in 2019, published on November 11, 2021.
Report on Chow Hang-tung’s response to being honoured with the Prominent Chinese Democracy Activist award, published on December 5, 2021.
The articles included interviews with now-detained activists and opinion pieces that were said to promote “radical political ideologies” and incite hatred against a Beijing-imposed security law.
Those ruled “seditious” included an interview with former Stand News journalist turned activist Gwyneth Ho – who was in May convicted of conspiring to commit subversion over her role in an unofficial primary election along with 44 other pro-democracy figures – and opinion pieces written by self-exiled activist Nathan Law and journalism teacher Allan Au.
Kwok found Chung responsible for publishing 10 of the 11 articles in question, whereas Lam was responsible for the publication of the remaining article.
“[Chung and Lam] knew of and agreed with the seditious intention of the articles. They provided Stand News as a publication platform” to incite hatred against Hong Kong and China, he wrote.
Kwok also ruled that Stand News had upheld a “localist” ideology and promoted the notion of “localist autonomy” for Hong Kong.
“It even became a tool to smear and slander central and [Hong Kong] government” during the 2019 protests, Kwok wrote.
Stand News Judgement Press Summary 29 August, 2024 by HKFP on Scribd
Sentencing was scheduled for September 26, with both Chung and Lam allowed to remain on bail until then.
‘For the powerless, the marginalised’
Representing Chung and Lam, Senior Counsel Audrey Eu told the court that both defendants had prepared their own mitigation letters. She only read aloud Lam’s, while Chung’s was submitted directly to the judge.
In his letter, Lam recalled that he joined the news industry in 2010 when the sector was facing “various concerns,” while “obvious or subtle censorship” was also becoming more frequent.
Stand News was founded against the background that editorial autonomy in Hong Kong’s newsroom was shrinking, Lam said, but the digital news outlet vowed to “speak up for the powerless, the marginalised and the minority,” even in face of “condemnation and attacks.”
“I believe the main reason that Stand News could survive for seven years was because readers wanted to read the news that was truly not influenced by corporations, powers or political parties,” Lam’s letter read.
During Thursday’s mitigation, Eu said Chung had been detained for more than 11 months, while Lam had been in custody for 10 months, pending trial. Considering the maximum sentence of the repealed sedition offence in the Crimes Ordinance was two years in prison, the journalists had already served most of their potential jail term.
Eu asked Kwok to impose a prison term that would not exceed the time the pair had already served behind bars.
Eu also revealed in court that Lam was suffering from a “rare disease” that required chemotherapy, and had been in and out of the hospital for treatment. If Lam were to be jailed, it would be difficult for him to access the medical care he needed, the lawyer said.
Eu added that while some may consider the articles published by Stand News as “propaganda,” it was Chung and Lam’s duties as journalists to report on different views.
“You have the discretion… you can consider the jail term… so that they don’t have to return to prison,” Eu told Kwok in Cantonese.
Up to two years’ imprisonment
Chung and Lam pleaded not guilty to taking part in a conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious materials when the trial began in October 2022.
They face up to two years in jail for the sedition offence, which previously fell under the city’s colonial-era Crimes Ordinance but has been replaced by new security legislation enacted in March that raises the maximum penalty for sedition to up to 10 years in jail.
The pair were detained for nearly a year following their arrests in December 2021. They were granted bail after the trial began.
During the trial, the defence challenged what it saw as an unfair prosecution, accusing prosecutors of cherry-picking articles and introducing new evidence as the trial unfolded. It said the defendants were legitimate journalists reporting on matters that other news outlets in the city had also covered.
Press freedom concerns
Independent online outlet Stand News rose to prominence in 2019 through its coverage of the Hong Kong protests. In December 2021, its newsroom was raided by national security police and seven people linked to Stand News were arrested. Of those, only Chung and Lam were charged. In the hours that followed, the outlet announced its closure and deleted all of its content.
The prosecution of Stand News sparked concerns and drew criticism over declining press freedoms in Hong Kong, while leader John Lee, at the time the city’s chief secretary, urged media workers to keep a distance from “evil elements” in the industry.
Additional reporting: Kelly Ho
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