Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
#Newspaper
#AppleDaily Arrests Make Headlines Across the World: "Blatant Attack on Journalism", "Silencing All Dissent"
The Hong Kong police arrest of #AppleDaily senior staff on June 17, 2021 has been widely reported by news outlets across the world.
On June 19, the newspaper's editor-in-chief #RayLaw and #NextDigital CEO #CheungKimHung were mentioned in court for national security charges.
June 20, 2021 marks the 26th anniversary of the establishment of Apple Daily in Hong Kong. It is the only pro-democracy Chinese-language newspaper in print in the city.
===
#Reuters
//Five hundred Hong Kong police officers sifted through reporters’ computers and notebooks at pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily on Thursday, the first case in which authorities have cited media articles as potentially violating the national security law.
“This is a blatant attack on the editorial side of Apple Daily,” Mark Simon, an adviser to Lai who is outside Hong Kong, told Reuters. “They’re arresting the top editorial folks.”
Asked how long he thinks the newspaper can survive, Simon said: “They decide, not us,” referring to authorities.//
Full article:
https://www.reuters.com/article/hongkong-security-apple-daily/update-2-hks-apple-daily-says-police-arrest-five-directors-in-latest-blow-to-tycoon-jimmy-lai-idUSL2N2NZ006
=====
#TheGuardian
//The raids were condemned by journalism and human rights groups.
Steven Butler, Asia program coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the arrests destroyed “any remaining fiction that Hong Kong supports freedom of the press”.
“China, which controls Hong Kong, may be able to eliminate the paper, which it sees as an annoying critic, but only at a steep price to be paid by the people of Hong Kong, who had enjoyed decades of free access to information.”//
Full article:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/17/hong-kong-police-arrest-editor-in-chief-of-apple-daily-newspaper-in-morning-raids
====
#CNN
//Press freedoms are a fundamental right guaranteed by Hong Kong's Basic Law, the city's mini-constitution. But experts have worried about the usage of the national security law, and there have been indications of pressures on other media in the city.
A recent ranking of worldwide press freedoms, meanwhile, indicates that the environment in Hong Kong has deteriorated. The international watchdog Reporters Without Borders — which qualifies such freedoms based on data on abuse and acts of violence against journalists along with a questionnaire to experts — ranked Hong Kong 80 out of 180 countries for press freedom, down from 18 out of 138 in 2002.//
Full article:
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/16/media/apple-daily-arrests-intl-hnk/index.html
=====
#Bloomberg
//“Hong Kong has been left with little free speech under the national security law, which is really aimed at silencing all dissent,” said Victoria Hui, an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. “Beijing has reined in Hong Kong and will continue to take whatever it takes to silence any dissenting voices.”
In a letter to readers on Thursday afternoon, Apple Daily said police officers confiscated a “large number of items,” including the computers of 38 journalists, over the course of a five-hour search of the company’s offices.
The newspaper said it now “faces an unprecedented crackdown by the regime,” but vowed its staff would be “standing firm” despite the growing pressure.
“Hong Kong’s press freedom is now hanging by a thread,” the letter said. “Though we are facing a sweeping clampdown on our publication, the staff of Apple Daily will hold fast to our duties faithfully and press on till the end to see the arrival of dawn.”//
Full article:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-16/hong-kong-arrests-apple-daily-editor-on-security-law-scmp-says
#PressFreedom #PoliceState #Censorship #PoliticalProsecution
Image: Stand News
#AppleDaily Arrests Make Headlines Across the World: "Blatant Attack on Journalism", "Silencing All Dissent"
The Hong Kong police arrest of #AppleDaily senior staff on June 17, 2021 has been widely reported by news outlets across the world.
On June 19, the newspaper's editor-in-chief #RayLaw and #NextDigital CEO #CheungKimHung were mentioned in court for national security charges.
June 20, 2021 marks the 26th anniversary of the establishment of Apple Daily in Hong Kong. It is the only pro-democracy Chinese-language newspaper in print in the city.
===
#Reuters
//Five hundred Hong Kong police officers sifted through reporters’ computers and notebooks at pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily on Thursday, the first case in which authorities have cited media articles as potentially violating the national security law.
“This is a blatant attack on the editorial side of Apple Daily,” Mark Simon, an adviser to Lai who is outside Hong Kong, told Reuters. “They’re arresting the top editorial folks.”
Asked how long he thinks the newspaper can survive, Simon said: “They decide, not us,” referring to authorities.//
Full article:
https://www.reuters.com/article/hongkong-security-apple-daily/update-2-hks-apple-daily-says-police-arrest-five-directors-in-latest-blow-to-tycoon-jimmy-lai-idUSL2N2NZ006
=====
#TheGuardian
//The raids were condemned by journalism and human rights groups.
Steven Butler, Asia program coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the arrests destroyed “any remaining fiction that Hong Kong supports freedom of the press”.
“China, which controls Hong Kong, may be able to eliminate the paper, which it sees as an annoying critic, but only at a steep price to be paid by the people of Hong Kong, who had enjoyed decades of free access to information.”//
Full article:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/17/hong-kong-police-arrest-editor-in-chief-of-apple-daily-newspaper-in-morning-raids
====
#CNN
//Press freedoms are a fundamental right guaranteed by Hong Kong's Basic Law, the city's mini-constitution. But experts have worried about the usage of the national security law, and there have been indications of pressures on other media in the city.
A recent ranking of worldwide press freedoms, meanwhile, indicates that the environment in Hong Kong has deteriorated. The international watchdog Reporters Without Borders — which qualifies such freedoms based on data on abuse and acts of violence against journalists along with a questionnaire to experts — ranked Hong Kong 80 out of 180 countries for press freedom, down from 18 out of 138 in 2002.//
Full article:
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/16/media/apple-daily-arrests-intl-hnk/index.html
=====
#Bloomberg
//“Hong Kong has been left with little free speech under the national security law, which is really aimed at silencing all dissent,” said Victoria Hui, an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. “Beijing has reined in Hong Kong and will continue to take whatever it takes to silence any dissenting voices.”
In a letter to readers on Thursday afternoon, Apple Daily said police officers confiscated a “large number of items,” including the computers of 38 journalists, over the course of a five-hour search of the company’s offices.
The newspaper said it now “faces an unprecedented crackdown by the regime,” but vowed its staff would be “standing firm” despite the growing pressure.
“Hong Kong’s press freedom is now hanging by a thread,” the letter said. “Though we are facing a sweeping clampdown on our publication, the staff of Apple Daily will hold fast to our duties faithfully and press on till the end to see the arrival of dawn.”//
Full article:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-16/hong-kong-arrests-apple-daily-editor-on-security-law-scmp-says
#PressFreedom #PoliceState #Censorship #PoliticalProsecution
Image: Stand News
Reuters
HK's Apple Daily raided by 500 officers over national security law
Five hundred Hong Kong police officers sifted through reporters' computers and notebooks at pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily on Thursday, the first case in which authorities have cited media articles as potentially violating the national security law.
Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
#WhiteTerror #FrozenAsset
#Reuters: HK’s Pro-democracy Newspaper #AppleDaily to shut within days according to #JimmyLai adviser
//Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily will be forced to shut “in a matter of days” after authorities froze the company’s assets under a national security law, Mark Simon, an adviser to jailed owner Jimmy Lai told Reuters on June 21, 2021.
The closure of Apple Daily would undermine the former British colony's reputation as an open and free society and send a warning to other companies that could be accused of colluding with a foreign country, media advocacy groups said.
Next Digital (0282.HK), publisher of the top-selling 26-year-old newspaper, would hold a board meeting on Monday [June 21, 2021] to discuss how to move forward after its lines of credit were frozen, the adviser, Mark Simon, said.
"Vendors tried to put money into our accounts and were rejected," he said by phone from the United States.
"We thought we'd be able to make it to the end of the month. It's just getting harder and harder. It's essentially a matter of days."
Apple Daily said on Sunday the freezing of its assets had left the liberal newspaper with cash for “a few weeks” for normal operations.”
In May, Reuters reported exclusively that Hong Kong's security chief had sent letters to tycoon Lai and branches of HSBC and Citibank threatening up to seven years' jail for any dealings with the billionaire's accounts in the city...
Authorities are also prosecuting three companies related to Apple Daily for alleged collusion with a foreign country and have frozen HK$18 million ($2.3 million) of their assets...
Simon told Reuters it had now become impossible to conduct banking operations in the global financial hub.
"We can't bank. Some vendors tried to do that as a favour ... and it was rejected."
The newspaper has come under increasing pressure since owner and Beijing critic Lai, who is now in jail, was arrested under the national security law last August and has since had some of his assets frozen...
Simon said some reporters had received threatening phone calls from unknown sources.
"Our staff are now just worried about personal safety," he said...//
Read full article:
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/exclusive-adviser-jailed-hk-tycoon-jimmy-lai-says-apple-daily-shut-within-days-2021-06-21/
Source: Reuters #Jun21
#PoliceState #NationalSecurityLaw #PressFreedom #HongKongMedia #Journalism #PoliticalSuppression #MarkSimon #FreeJimmy
====
Related stories:
[June 17, 2021] HK Police Raids Apple Daily Again and Arrests 3 Editors and 2 Executives
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/30130
"We Will Press On": Apple Daily Prints 500,000 Copies Despite Police Raid
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/30142
Hongkongers Rush to Support Apple Daily After Midnight
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/30140
[June 18, 2021] HK Police Charges Apple Daily Editor-in-chief and #NextDigital CEO with #NationalSecurityLaw
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/30149
#Reuters: HK’s Pro-democracy Newspaper #AppleDaily to shut within days according to #JimmyLai adviser
//Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily will be forced to shut “in a matter of days” after authorities froze the company’s assets under a national security law, Mark Simon, an adviser to jailed owner Jimmy Lai told Reuters on June 21, 2021.
The closure of Apple Daily would undermine the former British colony's reputation as an open and free society and send a warning to other companies that could be accused of colluding with a foreign country, media advocacy groups said.
Next Digital (0282.HK), publisher of the top-selling 26-year-old newspaper, would hold a board meeting on Monday [June 21, 2021] to discuss how to move forward after its lines of credit were frozen, the adviser, Mark Simon, said.
"Vendors tried to put money into our accounts and were rejected," he said by phone from the United States.
"We thought we'd be able to make it to the end of the month. It's just getting harder and harder. It's essentially a matter of days."
Apple Daily said on Sunday the freezing of its assets had left the liberal newspaper with cash for “a few weeks” for normal operations.”
In May, Reuters reported exclusively that Hong Kong's security chief had sent letters to tycoon Lai and branches of HSBC and Citibank threatening up to seven years' jail for any dealings with the billionaire's accounts in the city...
Authorities are also prosecuting three companies related to Apple Daily for alleged collusion with a foreign country and have frozen HK$18 million ($2.3 million) of their assets...
Simon told Reuters it had now become impossible to conduct banking operations in the global financial hub.
"We can't bank. Some vendors tried to do that as a favour ... and it was rejected."
The newspaper has come under increasing pressure since owner and Beijing critic Lai, who is now in jail, was arrested under the national security law last August and has since had some of his assets frozen...
Simon said some reporters had received threatening phone calls from unknown sources.
"Our staff are now just worried about personal safety," he said...//
Read full article:
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/exclusive-adviser-jailed-hk-tycoon-jimmy-lai-says-apple-daily-shut-within-days-2021-06-21/
Source: Reuters #Jun21
#PoliceState #NationalSecurityLaw #PressFreedom #HongKongMedia #Journalism #PoliticalSuppression #MarkSimon #FreeJimmy
====
Related stories:
[June 17, 2021] HK Police Raids Apple Daily Again and Arrests 3 Editors and 2 Executives
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/30130
"We Will Press On": Apple Daily Prints 500,000 Copies Despite Police Raid
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/30142
Hongkongers Rush to Support Apple Daily After Midnight
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/30140
[June 18, 2021] HK Police Charges Apple Daily Editor-in-chief and #NextDigital CEO with #NationalSecurityLaw
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/30149
Reuters
EXCLUSIVE HK’s Apple Daily to shut within days, says Jimmy Lai adviser
Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily will be forced to shut "in a matter of days" after authorities froze the company's assets under a national security law, an adviser to jailed owner Jimmy Lai told Reuters on Monday.
Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
#SupportAppleDaily #NeverGiveUp
News Anchor Wishes Hongkongers Safe on the Last Night of the #AppleDaily News Broadcast
The parent company of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, #NextDigital, held a board meeting on June 21, 2021 to decide the fate of the newspaper in the face of the Hong Kong government's suppression.
The board past the motion of sending a letter to the Secretary for Security, #JohnLee Ka-chiu to demand a reply on Friday, June 25, 2021--the company asked whether part of the Apple Daily’s funds can be unfrozen for salary payment.
According to sources, many Apple Daily’s employees expect Saturday, June 26, 2021 to be the last publishing day of Apple Daily. There is also sayings that the newsaper could be shut down as soon as on Wednesday.
As for the “21:30 Apple Daily News Broadcast”, it had its last screening on the evening of June 21. The headline inquired the whereabouts of Next Digital.
At the end of the programme, anchor #TseHingYi said that it is a hard way forward and wished everyone safe and sound.
Tse also sent a message to all media workers in Hong Kong, encouraging them to hang on and stand strong.
“Even though our platform is disappearing, Hong Kong journalists will hold onto their posts and defend the truth,” said Tse.
Watch the video here:
https://youtu.be/BsvcMNoGHqQ
Source: Stand News; InMedia; Apple Daily #Jun21
https://bit.ly/3gRQMTU
====
Related News:
Arrests, National Security Charges and Frozen Assets: Apple Daily Might Shut Down in 5 Days
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/30172
Voices are Disappearing in Face of "Stability and Prosperity"
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/30175
News Anchor Wishes Hongkongers Safe on the Last Night of the #AppleDaily News Broadcast
The parent company of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, #NextDigital, held a board meeting on June 21, 2021 to decide the fate of the newspaper in the face of the Hong Kong government's suppression.
The board past the motion of sending a letter to the Secretary for Security, #JohnLee Ka-chiu to demand a reply on Friday, June 25, 2021--the company asked whether part of the Apple Daily’s funds can be unfrozen for salary payment.
According to sources, many Apple Daily’s employees expect Saturday, June 26, 2021 to be the last publishing day of Apple Daily. There is also sayings that the newsaper could be shut down as soon as on Wednesday.
As for the “21:30 Apple Daily News Broadcast”, it had its last screening on the evening of June 21. The headline inquired the whereabouts of Next Digital.
At the end of the programme, anchor #TseHingYi said that it is a hard way forward and wished everyone safe and sound.
Tse also sent a message to all media workers in Hong Kong, encouraging them to hang on and stand strong.
“Even though our platform is disappearing, Hong Kong journalists will hold onto their posts and defend the truth,” said Tse.
Watch the video here:
https://youtu.be/BsvcMNoGHqQ
Source: Stand News; InMedia; Apple Daily #Jun21
https://bit.ly/3gRQMTU
====
Related News:
Arrests, National Security Charges and Frozen Assets: Apple Daily Might Shut Down in 5 Days
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/30172
Voices are Disappearing in Face of "Stability and Prosperity"
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/30175
Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
#PoliceState #AsiasFinest
Two more ministers with a police background in Hong Kong; Pro-China lawmaker: "I don’t think there’s any problem with a police state"
On June 25, 2021, the Hong Kong SAR government announced personnel change in the top adminstration, where at least two more officials with law enforcement backgrounds will take up key senior positions.
The current Secretary for Security #JohnLee has been appointed as the new chief secretary. He is the city's first top minister with a police background.
Police Commissioner #ChrisTang will become the Secretary for Security. One of his deputies, #RaymondSiu, is promoted to the police chief.
The personnel change was announced by Chief Executive Carrie Lam in Hong Kong and officiated by the State Ministry of the PRC in Beijing.
The "promotion" has stirred up discontent among the public. Many deemed it as a blatant manifestation of a "police state" in Hong Kong.
However, pro-Beijing lawmaker Alice Mak, of the Federation of Trade Unions, said, "If it’s a police state, why not? I don’t think there’s any problem with a police state."
The government's announcement came one day after the police and the Security Bureau had cracked down the city's pro-democracy newspaper #AppleDaily, by forcing the newspaper and related magazine under #NextDigital to close down on June 24, 2021. The police arrested and charged several editors, news commentators and executives under the #NationalSecurityLaw, while the Security Bureau froze the assets of the newspaper and three related companies.
Source: InMedia #Jun25
https://bit.ly/3dvEvE3
#FailedState #PoliticalSuppression
Two more ministers with a police background in Hong Kong; Pro-China lawmaker: "I don’t think there’s any problem with a police state"
On June 25, 2021, the Hong Kong SAR government announced personnel change in the top adminstration, where at least two more officials with law enforcement backgrounds will take up key senior positions.
The current Secretary for Security #JohnLee has been appointed as the new chief secretary. He is the city's first top minister with a police background.
Police Commissioner #ChrisTang will become the Secretary for Security. One of his deputies, #RaymondSiu, is promoted to the police chief.
The personnel change was announced by Chief Executive Carrie Lam in Hong Kong and officiated by the State Ministry of the PRC in Beijing.
The "promotion" has stirred up discontent among the public. Many deemed it as a blatant manifestation of a "police state" in Hong Kong.
However, pro-Beijing lawmaker Alice Mak, of the Federation of Trade Unions, said, "If it’s a police state, why not? I don’t think there’s any problem with a police state."
The government's announcement came one day after the police and the Security Bureau had cracked down the city's pro-democracy newspaper #AppleDaily, by forcing the newspaper and related magazine under #NextDigital to close down on June 24, 2021. The police arrested and charged several editors, news commentators and executives under the #NationalSecurityLaw, while the Security Bureau froze the assets of the newspaper and three related companies.
Source: InMedia #Jun25
https://bit.ly/3dvEvE3
#FailedState #PoliticalSuppression