Hong Kong pro-democracy media Stand News shut down after police arrests

Pro-democracy online media Stand News has closed down with immediate effect, after police arrested its executives for publishing seditious content and froze HK$61 million of its assets.

Its website and social media have stopped updating. All content will be removed shortly, the media annnounced.

Acting editor-in-chief Lam Shiu-tung, who was one of the seven arrested by police, has resigned. All employees have been dismissed.

Previously named House News, the outlet was founded in 2012. It was renamed Stand News and started operations in December 2014 after the Occupy Movement came to an end.

It is considered the biggest pro-democracy media which remain after Apple Daily shut down in June, after national security police arrested its executives and froze its assets.

In a briefing on Wednesday afternoon, police said seven people were arrested in the Stand News for conspiracy to publish seditious materials. Assets worth HK$61 million were frozen.

Senior Superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah of the police's national security department said Stand News published seditious articles from July 2020 to November 2021, which caused hatred against the government and sparked dissatisfaction among citizens.

Reports said protesters “disappeared” or were sexually assaulted, which Li said were false reports.

“One says Chinese Communist Party abused its power by dictating the courts,” Li said, adding the saying made people distrust the judicial system.

Another story mentioned that police officers in green uniform pointed guns at the yellow helmets worn by protesters during confrontations at Chinese University in 2019.

“There was no mention of such thing during court hearings thus far,” he said.

Li said interviews and blogs carried by Stand News were seditious.

“An interviewee said 'only when having two countries you can have two systems... it is inciting secession,” he said.
A blogger said he organized protests and drew up a list of recommendations for foreign sanctions.

“Stand News colluded with fugitives who called for foreign sanctions to incite hatred against the government, threatening national security,” Lee said.

Police will investigate where the funding of Stand News came from. It will also probe what is the purpose of Stand News' establishment of a branch in the United Kingdom, and whether it colluded with foreign forces.

All suspects will be remanded overnight, and more are wanted by police.

The seven arrested included Lam and former chief editor Chung Pui-kuen who stepped down last month.

Former board members of the news outlet, including ex-lawmaker Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, singer and activist Denise Ho Wan-see, Chow Tat-chi and Christine Fang Meng-sang, were arrested. The four had each stepped down from their posts in June. 

Chung’s wife Chan Pui-man, the former associate publisher of the now-defunct Apple Daily, has also been arrested for the same charge this morning at the Tai Lam Correctional Institution.