Six former staffers of Hong Kong’s now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and its parent company Next Digital have pleaded guilty to foreign collusion on Tuesday in a landmark national security case.
They were arrested last year and charged with collusion with foreign forces in an attempt to endanger the contentious national security law that China had imposed in 2019.
Former chief executive of Next Digital Cheung Kim-hung, associated publisher Chan Pui-man, Apple Daily editor-in-chief Ryan Law, executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung and editorial writers Fung Wai-kong and Yeung Ching-kee, admitted they had conspired with the newspaper’s founder Jimmy Lai to call for an imposition of sanctions or blockade, or engage in other hostile activities against Hong Kong or China, according to the Associated Press.
The six appeared at the Hong Kong high court on Tuesday.
Their case was heard by a panel of three handpicked national security judges: Justices Esther Toh, Susana D’Almada Remedios and Alex Lee.
Prosecutors alleged the three companies related to Apple Daily – Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited and AD Internet Limited – were also involved in the conspiracy from 1 July 2020, when the national security law was introduced, up to the day Apple Daily’s last print edition was published, on 24 June 2021.
Prosecutors accused Mr Lai of being the mastermind of the conspiracy and said the six former Apple Daily staffers and executives acted to implement the plans.
They added that after the national security law was passed, the pro-democracy newspaper condemned the legislation as “evil law” and called for resistance.
The prosecution, led by Anthony Chau on Tuesday, said some defendants will testify in an upcoming trial against Mr Lai, set to begin on 1 December.
Mr Lai, 74, and the three companies are expected to plead not guilty to the charges.
If convicted, Mr Lai faces life imprisonment. If the companies are convicted, they could be fined and the proceeds obtained from the crime confiscated.
The Hong Kong High Court has convicted the six staffers. Their sentences will be handed down after Mr Lai’s trial, it was reported.
According to the summary of facts read out in court, Apple Daily was used as a platform to publish news or “content purporting to be news articles” and commentary articles.
The prosecution listed at least 161 items of “impugned content” published since 1 April 2019, which they said had the objective to “sway public opinion” by making allegedly seditious statements against the central and Hong Kong governments and calling for the public to participate in protests.
Some articles published also contained requests for “external elements” to “impose sanctions or blockage, or engage in other hostile activities against the PRC or the HKSAR”, the prosecution’s case read.
Last year in June, Apple Daily printed one million copies on its last day of publication – more than 10 times its usual print run.
Police took away hard drives and laptops as evidence in a massive raid at Apple Daily’s offices in June 2021. The arrests of top executives, editors and journalists at the paper, as well as the freezing of $2.3m worth of assets, led it to the ceasing of its operations.
Meanwhile, according to the latest Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index, Hong Kong fell more than 60 places to 148th place.
The watchdog said the city’s press freedom saw “an unprecedented setback” since the introduction of the national security law that “serves as a pretext to gag independent voices”.
