HONG KONG – A Hong Kong judge jailed a former chief editor of pro-democracy news outlet Stand News for sedition on Thursday, handing down a 21-month prison term in the landmark case.
Chung, 55, and fellow chief editor Patrick Lam, 36, were in charge of Stand News, a Chinese-language website that gained a massive following during the protests before it was raided and shut down in December 2021.
District court judge Kwok Wai-kin found the pair guilty last month of “conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious publications”. Stand News’ parent company, Best Pencil Limited, was also found guilty.
Chung’s 21-month sentence makes him the first journalist to be jailed for sedition since Hong Kong came under Chinese rule in 1997.
Lam received a sentence reduction and will not return to jail, owing to time already served, with Kwok saying a prison term “could endanger his life” due to serious health issues.
Kwok said the two defendants, as well as the publication, were “not doing genuine journalistic work”.
“They were taking part in the so-called resistance. They stood on the side of the protesters to oppose the government,” he said.
“Stand News had 1.6 million followers and these seditious articles must have caused quite serious damage, even though I couldn’t quantify it,” Kwok said, adding that prison was the only option.
A spokesperson from the US consulate in Hong Kong called the sentencing “a direct attack on media freedom”.
“Journalism is not a crime… The United States remains seriously concerned about the continued erosion of protections for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, including freedom of expression,” the spokesperson told AFP.
“We urge Beijing and Hong Kong authorities to stop jailing journalists.”
Defence lawyer Audrey Eu had argued for leniency for Lam because he had been suffering from a “very rare and complicated” immune condition that left him with “less than 30 percent” of kidney function.
“Our largest concern is that if (Lam) has to return to prison, in case anything happens there… that may put his life in danger,” Eu told the court.
Chung and Lam had each spent nearly a year behind bars before they were granted bail at the time of their trial.
Thursday’s hearing was delayed by two hours and Lam left the court building with his wife at dusk without making any public comment.
Amnesty International’s China director Sarah Brooks said Thursday’s sentencing “looks designed to reinforce a ‘chilling effect’ that dissuades others in the city –- and beyond — from criticising the authorities”.
“It is rule by fear,” Brooks said.
The duo were charged under a colonial-era law that punishes sedition with a maximum jail term of two years.
A security law enacted in March raised that to seven years.
The conviction of Stand News editors in August drew swift global outcry, including from the European Union which called on Hong Kong to “stop prosecuting journalists”.
Chinese authorities in Hong Kong rejected the criticism, saying that Stand News was “a political organisation through and through”.
The Chinese finance hub has seen its standing in global press freedom rankings plummet in recent years. – AFP
