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https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3161360/hong-kong-national-security-police-arrest-6-ties-stand
Hong Kong/ Law and Crime

Hong Kong’s Stand News shuts down after national security police arrest 7, freeze HK$61 million in assets

  • Current and former chief editors arrested on Wednesday as more than 200 police take part in morning raids; ex-Apple Daily editor already in custody among the seven
  • Singer Denise Ho and barrister Margaret Ng, former board members, among those arrested, while online outlet’s deputy assignment editor Ronson Chan taken in for questioning
National security police escort Stand News acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam from the outlet’s Kwun Tong office in handcuffs. Photo: May Tse

Hong Kong’s Stand News dismissed all its staff and shut down on Wednesday after national security police arrested seven people who worked at, or were linked to, the online news platform for publishing material that authorities alleged was seditious and had stirred up hatred against the government.

Police froze HK$61 million (US$7.8 million) of Stand News’ assets, as it became the second news outlet popular among opposition activists and supporters to face accusations of promoting seditious material, after the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, whose owner Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and six senior employees were hit with new sedition charges on Tuesday.

The content on Stand News’ website and social media platforms had been removed by about 11pm. A notice posted on the site said it had ceased operating.

The city’s No 2 official, Chief Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu, said: “Anybody who attempts to make use of media work as a tool to pursue their political purpose or other interests [and] contravenes the law, particularly offences that endanger national security, they are the evil elements that damage press freedom.

“Professional media workers should recognise that these are the bad apples who are abusing their position simply by wearing a false coat of media worker and then, using that position, abuse news as a tool, to pursue their own purposes. They will pollute press freedom. Professional media workers should recognise this, say no to these people and stand far from them.”

Six people, including the current and former chief editors of Stand News, were arrested at their homes at about 6am under the Crimes Ordinance, a colonial-era law covering conspiracy to print or distribute seditious material. The offence is punishable by up to two years in prison and a fine of HK$5,000.

Acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam Shiu-tung, 34, resigned immediately after he was arrested, along with former chief editor Chung Pui-kuen, 52, who had already stepped down last month.

Former opposition lawmaker Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, singer and activist Denise Ho Wan-sze, writer Chow Tat-chi and Christine Fang Meng-sang were also arrested at their homes. All four had stepped down as board members last month. Fang, cousin of former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang, once headed the Hong Kong Council of Social Service.

Singer Denise Ho was among those arrested on Wednesday. Photo: AP
Singer Denise Ho was among those arrested on Wednesday. Photo: AP

The seventh person police arrested was Chan Pui-man, a former Apple Daily associate editor who is married to Chung.

Already remanded in custody after being charged with collusion with foreign forces in July, Chan was arrested at the Tai Lam Centre for Women over blog posts she wrote for Stand News, sources said.

Ronson Chan Ron-sing, Stand News deputy assignment editor and chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), was also taken from his home in Tai Wai for questioning but was not placed under arrest.

Stand News founder Tony Tsoi Tong-hoo, who is overseas, was also wanted in connection with the case, according to sources.

A police source said Chung and Lam would be charged on Thursday and taken to West Kowloon Court in the afternoon.

More than 200 police officers were involved in Wednesday’s crackdown, raiding the Stand News office in Kwun Tong with a warrant, carting away 33 boxes of evidence including computers and journalistic material, and also searching the homes of some of the accused.

Senior Superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah of the police force’s National Security Department said they had frozen Stand News’ bank account and HK$61 million worth of assets under the national security law while investigating the source of funding.

Li questioned where the money had come from, as the outlet did not accept sponsors or receive many advertisement fees. He said it was the largest sum of money the department had frozen so far.

Apart from discovering suspicious deposits to its bank account, officers were also looking into how the outlet, which focused on local reporting, could afford to open a branch in Britain and whether a conspiracy had occurred, he said.

Li accused Stand News of publishing a large number of articles between July 2020 and last month that stirred up hatred or contempt for the government and judiciary, provoked dissatisfaction among residents and to use violence as well as not to obey the law.

Ronson Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, is taken away by national security police on Wednesday morning. Photo: Sam Tsang
Ronson Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, is taken away by national security police on Wednesday morning. Photo: Sam Tsang

Citing a few examples from articles in which anti-government protesters were described as “being vanished and sexually assaulted”, Li told a press briefing that such accusations were groundless and malicious.

Other examples included pieces accusing the central government of abusing the local courts and of police officers mass-firing at protesters at Chinese University of Hong Kong during the 2019 social unrest.

Li also pointed to some blog posts, mostly written by arrested protesters and fugitives, accusing them of inciting others to engage in acts of secession and subversion and to get sanctions placed on the country and Hong Kong. He said the writer of an “exclusive interview” also claimed “you can have two systems” only if there were “two countries”, indicating Hong Kong independence.

“Strong evidence showed that the news outlet conspired with fugitives and allowed them to use its platform to incite others to hate the central government and the administration. This severely endangers national security,” said Li, who did not rule out more arrests.

Among the articles targeted by police was one by an online group and titled “Viewing the future of Hong Kong’s resistance from the experience of resistance in Northern Ireland”, which Stand News reposted. Another was an interview with a self-proclaimed Uygur, who had settled in France, about his experience in a Xinjiang re-education camp.

Other articles were either written by or interviews with fugitives including Ted Hui Chi-fung, Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang and Nathan Law Kwun-chung, who called for international sanctions against the city.

Another source said police had demanded Stand News urgently take down five articles from its website. One of them was a news item about Chow Hang-tung, a leader of the now-dissolved civic group behind the city’s annual candlelight vigil to commemorate the Tiananmen Square crackdown, being awarded a prize for contributing to China’s democracy by the US-based Chinese Democratic Education Foundation.

Another was an exclusive interview with activist Gwyneth Ho Kwai-lam, who was arrested on a subversion charge over an unofficial legislative primary election last year, in which she elaborated on her reasons for running.

While the police briefing took place, Stand News announced it had immediately ceased operations, dismissed all staff and that it would soon remove all the content from its website and social media.

Police raid the Stand News office in Kwun Tong on Wednesday. Photo: Sam Tsang
Police raid the Stand News office in Kwun Tong on Wednesday. Photo: Sam Tsang

The source said the company had about 50 employees.

The six arrested had legal support, the source said, adding that police searched the homes of four employees, including Ronson Chan.

The source said few workers were present during the police raid but those who were in the office were all told to stop using any communication tools or cellphones. “This was why no photos were taken during the raid,” the source said.

Earlier this year, Stand News revealed that all staff who worked for more than six months had their contracts terminated, and had been compensated with severance pay at a level higher than the statutory minimum. Most who stayed were hired again with a new contract with terms not worse than their previous one.

Stand News photojournalist Harry Ha, 29, who previously worked for Apple Daily, said he was at a loss after finding himself out of work again.

“When I got this job I knew this would happen one day. I just did not expect it to come so soon, right after the Legco election [on December 19] and at the end of a year at a rather peaceful time,” Ha said.


In a statement, the HKJA said it was deeply concerned with the arrests of numerous members of the media in the past year as well as police searches of news offices containing large quantities of journalistic materials.

“The association urges the government to protect press freedom in accordance with the Basic Law,” the statement said, referring to the city’s mini-constitution.

In June, Stand News became the first Hong Kong media outlet to roll out protective measures following a national security police crackdown on Apple Daily, announcing it would temporarily remove most of the commentary hosted on its site and suspend its subscription plan.

Margaret Ng, a barrister and former lawmaker, was among those arrested on Wednesday morning. Photo: Sam Tsang
Margaret Ng, a barrister and former lawmaker, was among those arrested on Wednesday morning. Photo: Sam Tsang

The platform also stopped accepting new donations last month.

Earlier this month, security minister Chris Tang Ping-keung accused Stand News of “smearing and demonising” the city’s smart prison initiative, warning that authorities would take action against whoever broke the law and endangered national security.

In response, Stand News said its report on the project had been truthful and that the media’s responsibility was to monitor those in power, reflect different points of view and give voice to the city’s disadvantaged.

Additional reporting by Denise Tsang and Danny Mok