Pro-democracy newspaper forced to shut after raid; Northeast China enters flood season 1 month early

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#PoliceState #PoliticalProsecution
HK Police Arrests More #AppleDaily Editors

On the evening of June 27, 2021, Hong Kong Police arrested one more editor who used to write in the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily.

#FungWaiKong, aged 57, was the editor-in-chief of the English news of Apple Daily and a columnist for the Chinese-language edition under thd pen name Lo Fung.

The police accused of him "conspiring to collude with foreign countries or foreign forces to endanger national security". The arrest was made at the airport.

Fung Wai-kong is the seventh employee of the now-closed Apple Daily who was arrested under #NationalSecurityLaw. The founder #JimmyLai, a pro-democracy media tycoon, has been jailed since Janurary 2021.

The 26-year-old Apple Daily was forced to shut down on June 23, 2021 after the police raided the headquarters, arrested 3 editors and 2 executives, and froze the key assets and bank accounts of the newspaper. On the day when the last edition was announced, police arrested one more new commentator.

The Hong Kong Journalists' Association (#HKJA) condemned the police for targeting journalists.

Source: Stand News #Jun27
https://bit.ly/2SAUrgY

#Journalism #PressFreedom #SupportAppleDaily #PoliticalPrisoner

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Related news:

Hongkongers Stay Up Overnight to Buy Apple Daily for One Last Time

https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/30233

Breaking: Former head of #AppleDaily English edition attempted to leave #HK but was denied from leaving and arrested. He wasn't charged for anything before leaving. For him being arrested, it makes the speculation about closing the HK border more clear.

This arrest is actually much worse than the previous arrest. The #HKPolice does not need a reason to forbid anyone from leaving the city and arrest without a reason & precaution as long as say it is #NationalSecurityLaw.

#FreeHongKong
#StandWithHongKong

#News #InformationWar
#Wikipedia wars: How Hongkongers and mainland Chinese are battling to set the #narrative

//Wikipedia now hosts over one million articles in its Chinese edition alone. Entries can be written and edited by any internet user as long as these are supported by reliable news sources, although no original research is allowed.

Wikipedia volunteers in Hong Kong say they face increasing problems finding a diverse range of reliable media sources to cite....

Their mainland counterparts are pushing for the use of Chinese state media as reliable news sources to channel their version of events.

Hong Kong users also fear that it will become harder for them to get elected as administrators on Wikipedia – a role which gives them power to adjudicate on editing decisions and invoke the website’s guiding rules and principles – because the Chinese version of the website is dominated by mainland users.

A Chinese Wikipedia article about the Yuen Long MTR mob attack in July 2019 had recorded a whopping 1,912 edits as of July 8, with 473 media sources cited in footnotes.

As Apple Daily closed last month, some users attempted to purge Wikipedia of news outlets deemed pro-democracy. One user named “Walter Grassroot” started removing Apple Daily news links in articles en masse, hours before the newspaper’s official shutdown on June 23.

In his user history, Walter Grassroot left a comment supportive of another user MINQI, who appeared sympathetic to pro-China viewpoints, saying: “People supporting Taiwan, Hong Kong, Manchu and Falun Gong independence exist because of financial support in the background” and they must set up a foundation for efficient “large scale clean-ups” of articles in the future...

Screenshots that surfaced on Wednesday showed users on the Chinese QQ messaging app for mainland Wikipedia editors discussing reporting their Hong Kong peers to the city’s national security police hotline.

“We should report those from the Hong Kong user group,” a QQ user under the handle “Walter Grassroot” wrote after another user posted an image of the hotline’s details. “Nice idea,” another replied...//

Read the full article:
hongkongfp.com/2021/07/11/wikipedia-wars-how-hongkongers-and-mainland-chinese-are-battling-to-set-the-narrative/

Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Jul11

#BigData #InvisibleHand #Editorship #AppleDaily

Biden Administration recently sanctioned 7 officials from Liaison's office to hold them accountable for #HongKong's crackdown & #AppleDaily close down.
Comparing to previous sanctions, they are lower level officials. The effect towards #CCP or #HKGov is limited. Rather than giving #CCPChina pressure, it gives a signal to them that what US can do to preserve #HumanRight in HK & pretect US citizen is limited.
On contrary, because the effect on the sanction is limited, #Beijing will impose harder policies on HK.

#Court
Hong Kong Court-apported liquidator attempts to take control of the #AppleDailyTaiwan Assets

On November 26, 2021, the Taiwan based Economic Democracy Union (#EDU) warned potential breaches of human rights and national security ramifications after a Hong Kong court-appointed liquidator sought permission to order Taiwan-based #AppleDaily and #NextMagazine to turn over all of their assets.

The union, a consortium of non-governmental organizations, urged the Taiwan government to take immediate action to ensure that Hong Kong’s #NationalSecurityLaw would have no foothold in #Taiwan.

According to a lawyer of the EDU, Taiwan would be in its rights to ignore the demands because they have not been reviewed by Taiwanese courts, and because Taiwanese courts can decline to enforce foreign laws.

Likewise, the EDU has framed the issue as significant in needing to prevent the Hong Kong National Security Law from encroaching upon Taiwanese sovereignty. The EDU also emphasized the potential dangers if the Apple Daily turned over information to Hong Kong authorities as a result of the seizure of its assets.

The liquidator is court-appointed, following the Apple Daily’s closure in June 2021. Hong Kong courts also froze 18 million Hong Kong dollars in company funds, preventing it from paying its workers, not long after courts moved to freeze assets of company CEO #JimmyLai.

Source: RFI; #Nov26

https://www.rfi.fr/cn/%E6%B8%AF%E6%BE%B3%E5%8F%B0/20211126-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E6%B8%85%E7%9B%A4%E5%AE%98%E4%BF%83-%E5%8F%B0%E8%98%8B-%E4%BA%A4%E8%B3%87%E7%94%A2-%E6%B0%91%E5%9C%98%E6%86%82%E6%B3%84%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E%E6%9D%90%E6%96%99-%E6%9B%B4%E6%81%90%E5%9C%8B%E5%AE%89%E6%B3%95%E5%9C%A8%E5%8F%B0%E6%8F%92%E8%B6%B3

#PoliceState #Assets #Liquidation #Arrest #CrossStraits

#PoliticalOppression #PressFreedom
2021 marks a sad milestone for Journalists in HK : Committee to Protect Journalists

In the Committee to Protect Journalists (#CPJ) annual report 2021, it revealed that the number of journalists jailed around the world had set another record in 2021, with #China remains the world’s worst jailer of journalists for the third year in a row, with 50 behind bars. 

As for Hong Kong, it said that 2021 "marked a sad milestone".

"For the first time journalists in the former British colony appear on CPJ’s annual survey of journalists unjustly imprisoned for their work. Eight. Zero to eight in one year."

READ FULL ARTICLE:
https://cpj.org/2021/12/hong-kongs-sad-media-milestone/

RELATED ARTICLE:
https://cpj.org/2021/12/attacks-on-the-press-in-2021/

The number of reporters jailed for their work hit a new global record of 293 in CPJ’s 2021 prison census, up from a revised total of 280 in 2020. Also so far in 2021, at least 24 journalists were killed as a result of their coverage.

#NationalSecurityLaw #FreedomOfSpeech #PressFreedom #JimmyLai #AppleDaily

Source : Committee to Protect Journalists; #Dec9

So uh… who on earth are the family members of the greatest leader of 🇨🇳? You’re welcome to zoom in… 🤡
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We translated this image originally published in Chinese a while back. Not sure about the original source, the style looks like the now defunct #AppleDaily. If anyone knows pls comment!
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#CCP #XiJinping #China #Beijing

"In the rain, Taiwanese and Hong Kongers unite. They brave the downpour, holding signs that say 'Drenched to the toes but never giving up,' reminiscent of the 1.7 million-strong Hong Kong rally on August 18, 2019. Carrying yellow umbrellas and supplies from Apple Daily, they come to show their support. Along the way, people assist in carrying the items, understanding the importance of standing against the evil law for freedom. He is an organizer of the solidarity gathering, witnessing the transformation from being a spectator during the Sunflower Movement ten years ago to actively participating now. His emotions are mixed, feeling touched but also wary. He believes that Taiwan's democracy will continue to progress after the Sunflower Movement, but recent events reflect potential setbacks or the exploitation of the democratic system."

#AntiExtraditionMovement #Taiwan #KMT #SunflowerMovement #PeopleParty #DPP #Rally #AppleDaily #HongKong #NewsCoverage #thechaser