A coalition of 23 countries has expressed “grave concern” after two former Hong Kong editors were convicted of conspiracy to publish seditious articles, stressing journalism should not be prosecuted under “the guise of national security”.
The Media Freedom Coalition, whose members include the US, the UK and France, said on Monday it was alarmed by the guilty verdict against the ex-editors of now-closed online outlet Stand News and the “wider suppression of media freedom” in the city.
Last month, former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen, 54, and ex-acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam Shiu-tung, 36, were found guilty of sedition by the District Court.
“Journalism is not a crime. Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam have been prosecuted for over two and a half years,” it said.
“Their guilty verdict falls against a wider backdrop of increased media self-censorship and the hostility by Hong Kong authorities against local and foreign journalists and their representative bodies, especially since the imposition of the National Security Law in June 2020.”