Hong Kong:
Hong Kong police arrested the former executive editor-in-chief of the now-closed pro-democracy Apple Daily tabloid on Wednesday, regional media reported, the newest arrest in a national safety investigation of media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s newspaper.
Police, who commonly do not determine folks below investigation, stated in a statement they had arrested a 51-year-old former male newspaper editor on suspicion of “conspiring to collude with foreign countries or foreign forces to endanger national security.”
Media group Next Digital, which published Apple Daily, did not straight away respond to a request for comment.
The well-known tabloid of staunch Beijing critic Lai folded just after numerous hundred police raided its headquarters on June 17 and froze important assets and bank accounts. It printed its last edition on June 24.
Police have stated dozens of the paper’s articles might have violated the city’s China-imposed national safety law, the 1st instance of authorities taking aim at media reports below the legislation.
Critics of the law, introduced in June 2020, say it has been used to muzzle dissent and erode basic freedoms, like these of the media, in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Authorities have denied the erosion of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong, but have stated acts that endanger China’s national safety cross a red line. Security officials have stated law enforcement actions are based on proof and have absolutely nothing to do with an individual’s background or profession.
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