Hong Kong court to deliver verdict in sedition case against closed Stand News on Thursday

Verdict, originally slated for last October, was adjourned three times pending appellate court ruling on separate sedition case

Hong Kong courts

Brian Wong

Published: 12:00pm, 28 Aug 2024

Why you can trust SCMP

A Hong Kong court will hand down its verdict on Thursday on whether a now-closed online news service was guilty of publishing seditious material in the aftermath of the 2019 anti-government protests.

The District Court’s ruling on Stand News and two former senior editors will mark the first time a judge hand-picked by the city leader to preside over proceedings under the Beijing-decreed national security law has demarcated acceptable reporting boundaries.

The verdict, first slated for last October, was adjourned three times pending a ruling by the Court of Appeal in a separate sedition case. A substantive hearing in the case’s final appeal at the top court is still pending.

District Judge Kwok Wai-kin, who presided over the Stand News trial, was to retire at the end of August but had his term extended until November next year.

Former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen, 54, and ex-acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam Shiu-tung, 36, face a joint conspiracy charge of publishing and reproducing seditious publications over 17 news and commentary articles alleged to have promoted anti-government ideologies and discredited Beijing, the city administration and the national security law.

The court also recorded a not guilty plea from Best Pencil HK, Stand News’ holding company, which was unrepresented in the 55-day trial.

Prosecutors at first relied on the 17 articles, including interviews with opposition politicians and activists as well as critiques of the security law and relevant enforcement actions, as proof that Stand News had instigated hatred and contempt towards authorities.

They later expanded the case to cover 587 other articles previously ignored by investigators, as part of accusations that Stand News carried out biased reporting and advocated anti-government beliefs.

Prosecutors argued the hundreds of reports showed the news agency’s intent to steer public opinion in favour of the opposition when it ran the original 17 stories between July 2020 and December 2021.

They also maintained that “false” and “misleading” media reports had contributed to what they categorised as “thought crimes” after the 2019 social unrest, as they highlighted 45 examples of previous convictions involving online calls for Hong Kong independence and incitement of hatred towards police and officials.

Defence lawyers warned against the encroachment of speech and press freedom through the prosecution of “politically incorrect” publications and stressed the 17 articles in question only represented an insignificant portion of more than 100,000 reports the website ran in its nearly seven years of operation.

They argued all Stand News reports were “solemn and based on facts without exaggeration” and questioned prosecutors’ rationale for suggesting the press should give minimal or partial coverage to what authorities considered to be “forces opposing China and disrupting Hong Kong”.

Former Stand News acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam (left) and ex-editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen outside court. Photo: Edmond So

Lawyers pushed back at the prosecution’s contention that Stand News had been used as a political platform glorifying “criminals” and disseminating their “illegal” agendas.

They also highlighted a lack of evidence that the 45 court cases cited by the prosecution were the result of media influence.

Chung and Lam were incarcerated for at least 11 months before they were bailed in the middle of the high-profile trial that has lasted nearly three times longer than the original estimated length.

The protracted case is partly a result of Chung’s decision to go into the witness box. He gave evidence for 36 days, including 26 days under cross-examination by the prosecution.

Stand News, known for its comprehensive coverage of the social unrest and investigative reporting on sensitive topics, became the second media outlet felled by the weight of the security law when it closed just after a police crackdown on December 29, 2021.

The news service met the same fate as former media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s tabloid-style Apple Daily newspaper, which ceased operations a week after the arrest of its senior executives and editorial staff in June 2021.

The present case is the second-last trial involving a sedition offence under sections 9 and 10 of the colonial-era Crimes Ordinance, which carries a maximum jail sentence of two years for a first conviction.

Sedition is recognised by the Court of Final Appeal as an offence that can endanger the country’s safety and cases can only be heard by judges approved by the chief executive.

The other sedition trial involves Lai and three Apple Daily companies in relation to accusations of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and production of seditious publications.

The Crimes Ordinance offence has since been repealed and replaced by sections 23 and 24 of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, the city’s domestic national security law, which carries higher maximum sentences.

The old sedition offence, with the exception of the two trials still to be concluded, has had a 100 per cent conviction rate since the 2020 security law came into force.

Convictions and prison sentences have been handed down to 41 defendants.