Taipei, September 26, 2024 — A Hong Kong court on Thursday sentenced two former Stand News editors on charges of conspiracy to publish seditious publications following their convictions in late August.
Chung Pui-kuen received one year and nine months in prison, and Patrick Lam, who received 11 months, was released after the hearing as he had already served 10 months and nine days in pretrial detention, and a judge reduced his sentence by 21 days due to his health condition. Chung served 11 months, which will be credited against his sentence.
“Hong Kong’s conviction and sentencing of former Stand News editors Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam demonstrate that the government has no intention of upholding press freedom in the city,” said Iris Hsu, CPJ’s China representative. “We are pleased that Lam is not behind bars, but authorities must also immediately release Chung and stop putting pressure on journalists doing their jobs.”
Hong Kong’s security bureau told CPJ by email in August that “the ideology of Stand News was localism which excluded China, and that it even became a tool to smear and vilify the Central Authorities and the HKSAR Government during the ‘anti-extradition amendment bill incidents.’”
China was the world’s worst jailer of journalists, with 44 behind bars at the time of CPJ’s 2023 prison census. Those held include CPJ’s 2021 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award winner Jimmy Lai, founder of the shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, who has been behind bars since 2020 and is facing life imprisonment if convicted of foreign collusion under Hong Kong’s national security law.
Editor’s note: The quote was updated to correct the characterization of Lam’s imprisonment.