Two Stand News editors sentenced to up to 21 months in jail for sedition

The District Court on Thursday sentenced two former editors of the now-defunct Stand News to jail after being found guilty in the first sedition case involving the media since the handover.

Former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen was sentenced by judge Kwok Wai-kin to serve 21 months in jail, and former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam Shiu-tung was handed an 11-month jail sentence.

Lam was allowed to go free as his sentence was reduced because of ill health and time already served in custody. As for Chung, he has to serve around ten more months in prison after the custody.

The duo was arrested in December 2021 and pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious materials between July 2020 and December 2021.

The court found 11 out of the 17 articles being published to be seditious, including stories featuring ex-lawmakers Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Ted Hui Chi-fung, who are targeted by Hong Kong police bounties.

In his verdict, Kwok said Chung and Lam were aware of and agreed with the seditious intent, and that they made Stand News available as a platform to incite hatred against the Beijing and Hong Kong governments and the judiciary.

Best Pencil (Hong Kong) Ltd., Stand News’ holding company, was convicted on the same charge and was ordered a fine of HK$5,000.