Two Hong Kong journalists will study the end result of their landmark sedition trial this week, the decision of which may set the tone for the way forward for journalism within the Chinese language metropolis.
The 2 journalists, Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, are former editors of the impartial information outlet Stand Information, which now not exists. If convicted, they may very well be sentenced to as much as two years in jail below Hong Kong’s colonial-era sedition legal guidelines.
The couple have been arrested by Hong Kong nationwide safety police in December 2021 together with 5 different Stand Information workers and board members, together with Denise Ho, a pop singer turned outstanding pro-democracy activist, and Margaret Ng, a former politician and extremely revered lawyer.
Sedition legal guidelines have been launched in Hong Kong when it was a British colony however lay dormant till 2020, when Beijing imposed new nationwide safety legal guidelines in response to months of anti-government protests a yr earlier.
Along with new crimes comparable to “collusion with international forces” and “subversion,” prosecutors have begun charging Hong Kong residents with “sedition” for the primary time in additional than 50 years.
Whereas not the primary sedition trial for the reason that safety regulation triggered a sweeping political shift, the trial of Chung and Lam can be intently watched as it’s the first to instantly handle journalism and the media, based on a Hong Kong-based observer who has adopted the case.
The observer advised Al Jazeera that the judges of their ruling should outline what is taken into account “legit reporting” and what’s thought of “inciting hatred” in opposition to the federal government.
“It’s anticipated to be the primary sedition trial involving journalism, so we will anticipate the choose to have to attract a line between what is suitable journalism and what’s not, particularly if the defendants are literally discovered responsible,” mentioned the individual, who requested to not be recognized for concern {of professional} repercussions.
Prosecutors accuse Chung and Lam of conspiring to publish 17 seditious articles and editorials that have been crucial of the federal government and turned Stand Information right into a “political platform” reasonably than an impartial media outlet. The articles included information about Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp and commentary by political figures residing in exile.
In the course of the trial, protection legal professional Audrey Eu argued that not solely did Chung and Lam not write the articles in query, however that the prosecution had failed to indicate how they posed “an actual danger to nationwide safety” or served as a political platform.
He mentioned the outlet’s work was within the public curiosity and that its responsibility because the “Fourth Property” was to scrutinize the Hong Kong authorities within the hope of enhancing governance.
He additionally criticized the prosecution’s misconduct throughout the trial, which included counting on almost 600 new items of proof throughout their questioning and shutting arguments that they didn’t current earlier than the trial started.
Eric Lai, a researcher at Georgetown’s Asian Regulation Heart, notes that the sedition prices have had a 100% conviction price since they have been revived. He expects Chung and Lam, who’ve spent almost a yr in custody earlier than being granted bail initially of trial proceedings, to even be discovered responsible.
“I don’t anticipate a rights-respecting consequence given the intolerant pattern of Hong Kong court docket rulings since 2020. They fail to understand and stability the safety of basic human rights comparable to freedom of expression and freedom of opinion with the federal government’s overly broad nationwide safety agenda,” Lai advised Al Jazeera.
‘Silencing impartial voices’
Stand Information closed shortly after police raided its places of work in December 2021. The outlet additionally deleted its on-line archive.
Though it was a comparatively small outlet, its fast demise resonated past Hong Kong as the newest signal of how town, as soon as thought of the freest in Asia, was altering.
On the time of its closure, Stand Information was one of many few pro-democracy media shops nonetheless in operation. The favored tabloid Apple Each day had shut down six months earlier, after a whole lot of nationwide safety brokers raided its newsroom and detained its prime executives and founder Jimmy Lai.
The crackdown on Stand Information was criticized by human rights teams and a few Western authorities officers, together with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who described the outlet as “one of many few remaining bastions of free and impartial media” in Hong Kong.
“By silencing impartial media, [Chinese] “Native and state authorities undermine Hong Kong’s credibility and viability. A assured authorities that’s not afraid of the reality welcomes a free press,” Blinken mentioned on the time.
In response, then-leader Carrie Lam denied that media shops have been being focused and mentioned releasing these arrested can be opposite to the rule of regulation.
Shortly after the raid on Stand Information, impartial media outlet Citizen Information additionally voluntarily closed down, citing issues in regards to the “deteriorating media surroundings in Hong Kong.” 4 different impartial media shops adopted swimsuit, based on Reporters With out Borders, Hong Kong’s media watchdog.
The town’s press freedom rating fell from 73rd out of 180 territories and nations in RSF’s annual 2019 World Press Freedom Index to one hundred and thirty fifth final yr, simply above South Sudan.
“As soon as a bastion of press freedom, the Hong Kong Particular Administrative Area of the Individuals’s Republic of China has suffered a collection of unprecedented setbacks since 2020, when Beijing adopted a nationwide safety regulation geared toward silencing impartial voices,” the media watchdog mentioned.
The drop is even higher in comparison with 2002, 5 years after Hong Kong was handed over to China and the primary yr that RSF compiled the index. At the moment, Hong Kong was ranked 18th.
International media shops have additionally begun relocating positions beforehand primarily based in Hong Kong to locations like South Korea and Taiwan.
The remaining native and worldwide media have generally discovered themselves in hassle.
In 2022, the International Correspondents’ Membership of Hong Kong cancelled its Human Rights Press Awards over fears that they could “unintentionally” violate native legal guidelines amid plans to acknowledge Stand Information with a number of awards.
The awards have since moved to Taiwan, together with many journalists protecting East Asia.
Final month, The Wall Avenue Journal fired Hong Kong journalist Selina Cheng shortly after she was elected president of the Hong Kong Journalists Affiliation, reportedly asking her to resign or lose her job.
Cheng mentioned the American newspaper advised him that its workers “shouldn’t be seen as defenders of press freedom in a spot like Hong Kong.”
The affiliation had already drawn the ire of Hong Kong safety chief Chris Tang for “siding” with protesters in 2019. He additionally accused the organisation of accepting funding from the US authorities.
The paper beforehand advised Al Jazeera that Cheng’s place turned redundant when the paper moved its Asian headquarters from Hong Kong to Singapore.
In the meantime, the Hong Kong authorities has additional tightened anti-sedition legal guidelines, which it says are obligatory to make sure media shops don’t “endanger” nationwide safety.
In April, it handed a neighborhood model of the nationwide safety regulation, referred to as Article 23.
The brand new regulation introduces a number of new crimes, together with treason, sabotage and espionage, and permits police to detain suspects for as much as 16 days with out charging them. The crime of sedition has additionally been added and its scope has been expanded to incorporate “inciting hatred” in opposition to the Chinese language Communist Get together.
Most sentences have been raised from a most of two years in jail to seven years, or 10 years for circumstances involving “exterior forces” comparable to international governments, based on Amnesty Worldwide.
Hong Kong chief John Lee mentioned Article 23, which the earlier administration needed to shelve after mass protests, would assist additional defend town from issues comparable to political unrest, sabotage and international infiltration.
The federal government mentioned the provisions have been just like legal guidelines handed by Australia, the UK and Singapore to deal with covert and overt international affect over their political methods.
Regina Ip, a member of town’s pro-Beijing legislative council, wrote in an opinion piece in April in native newspaper South China Morning Publish that Hong Kong had a “constitutional, authorized and ethical responsibility to safeguard nationwide safety” and had failed to take action since abandoning the laws almost 27 years earlier.
“Crimes comparable to treason, sedition, espionage and theft of state secrets and techniques have been in our felony code for many years,” he wrote. “However many provisions are ineffective and outdated. For constitutional and sensible causes, Hong Kong must replace current legal guidelines.”
