Hong Kong newspaper the Apple Daily yesterday announced that it is to print its final edition after authorities froze its assets using the National Security Law, silencing the territory’s most China critical media firm.
Journalists outside the paper’s headquarters said that they planned to print 1 million copies overnight — a staggering number given Hong Kong’s population of 7.5 million.
They spoke of their heartbreak at the paper’s closure and loss of about 1,000 jobs.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I have tens of thousands of words in my heart, but I am speechless at this moment,” said Ip Yut-kin (葉一堅), chairman of the paper’s parent company, Next Digital Ltd (壹傳媒).
The Apple Daily has long been a thorn in Beijing’s side, with unapologetic support for Hong Kong’s democracy movement and criticism of China’s authoritarian leaders.
Those same leaders have used the security legislation to bring about its rapid demise.
Owner Jimmy Lai (黎智英), who is in jail for attending democracy protests, was among the first to be charged under the law after its imposition last year.
The final chapter of the 26-year-old paper was written over the past week, when authorities deployed the security law to raid the newsroom, arrest senior executives and freeze its assets.
That last move crippled the paper’s ability to conduct business and pay staff.
Apple Daily announced its closure “out of consideration for the safety of its staff.”
Its Web site was to go offline overnight.
Lai, editor-in-chief Ryan Law (羅偉光) and Next Digital chief executive officer Cheung Kim-hung (張劍虹) have been charged with colluding with foreign forces to undermine China’s national security and remanded into custody.
Yeung Ching-kee (楊清奇), one of the paper’s top columnists, was arrested yesterday on the same charge.
“Every journalist in Hong Kong now has a metaphorical gun pointed at their heads,” said Sharron Fast, a lecturer at the University of Hong Kong’s journalism school.
“When the result of your writing can lead to lifetime imprisonment — you are being censored. Apple will not be the last — just the latest,” Fast said.
Meanwhile, the first trial under the National Security Law began without a jury.
Prosecutors started presenting their case against Tong Ying-kit (唐英杰), 24, who was arrested the day after the law came into effect.
He allegedly drove his motorcycle into a group of police officers during protests on July 1 last year.
Footage showed his motorcycle was flying a flag that read “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.”
Prosecutor Anthony Chau (周天行) said his team would show that the phrase meant separating Hong Kong from China, or seeking “regime change.”
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