Oct. 02, 2024 |
‘Illegal ideologies’ | On September 26, a court in Hong Kong sentenced two journalists, Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, for “conspiring to publish seditious materials” on their pro-democracy website, Stand News.
Three years earlier, under direction from the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, Hong Kong officials shut down Stand News—which had been investigating what it saw as local-government failures—along with other pro-democracy media outlets.
Authorities arrested Chung and Lam in December 2021, detaining them for almost a year before releasing them on bail. Now Judge Kwok Wai-kin, who’s overseeing their case, has sentenced Chung to an additional 21 months in prison, and Lam—who suffers from a rare kidney disorder—to time served.
Harsh security laws have largely wiped out freedom of expression and other civil liberties in Hong Kong, and many pro-democracy activists have been arrested or fled the country. So why is China still sentencing journalists to jail time?
In July 2021, in the middle of the crackdown, Minxin Pei explored how Beijing had turned Hong Kong into just another Chinese city—taking control over local officials, elections, even textbooks, and leaving the enclave in an atmosphere of fear.
—Michael Bluhm
