HK police arrest Apple Daily executives, seize reporting materials in national security law raid

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HONG KONG — Hong Kong police arrested 5 executives of the pro-democracy Apple Day by day newspaper on Thursday, and for the primary time underneath a brand new nationwide safety legislation had a warrant to grab journalistic supplies, sending chills by way of the town’s media.

It was additionally the primary time police have stated media articles might have breached the safety legislation that Beijing imposed final yr.

The raid by 500 officers was the most recent blow to media tycoon Jimmy Lai, the tabloid’s proprietor and a staunch Beijing critic, whose belongings have been seized underneath the safety legislation and who’s serving jail sentences for collaborating in unlawful assemblies.

Police stated the warrant was geared toward gathering proof, together with from reporters’ telephones and computer systems, elevating alarm about media freedoms.

Police stated the tabloid printed dozens of reviews courting again to 2019 that will have breached the safety legislation, with out saying when the newest articles in query have been. The laws is just not retrospective however prosecutors can use actions from earlier than its implementation as proof.

“The character of the articles may be very easy: inciting, requesting international international locations to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and the Individuals’s Republic of China. Very simple,” senior superintendent Li Kwai-wah instructed reporters outdoors the paper’s headquarters.

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Li stated police have additionally frozen HK$18 million ($2.32 million) of belongings owned by three firms linked to Apple Day by day and that the raid was not focused on the media business as an entire.

“This can be a blatant assault on the editorial aspect of Apple Day by day,” Mark Simon, an adviser to Lai who’s outdoors Hong Kong, instructed Reuters. “They’re arresting the highest editorial people.”

It was the second time police have raided the Apple Day by day headquarters; 200 officers went in final yr to arrest Lai on suspicion of colluding with international forces.

Lai has been in detention since December, denied bail underneath the safety legislation and serving a number of sentences for collaborating in some unauthorized rallies, together with in the course of the international monetary hub’s mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.

The safety legislation was Beijing’s first main transfer to set China’s most restive metropolis on an authoritarian path. It punishes something Beijing deems as subversion, secessionism, terrorism and collusion with international forces with as much as life in jail.

Nationwide safety police stated in a press release that 5 administrators of an organization had been arrested on suspicion of collusion with a international nation or with exterior parts. Hong Kong police don’t identify arrestees.

Apple Day by day stated editor-in-chief Ryan Legislation, chief govt officer Cheung Kim-hung, Chief Working Officer Chow Tat-kuen, Deputy Chief Editor Chan Puiman and Chief Government Editor Cheung Chi-wai had all been arrested in morning raids.

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Photos printed by Apple Day by day confirmed police sitting at reporters’ desks and utilizing their computer systems. An individual streaming a dwell feed for Apple Day by day’s Fb web page stated the constructing was cordoned off and reporters have been prevented from accessing sure flooring or getting their tools or notebooks.

Chief editor Legislation was seen strolling in handcuffs, flanked by cops. The Apple Day by day paper’s basic information desk instructed reporters in a textual content message seen by Reuters to hold on with their assignments outdoors the constructing in the intervening time.

The transfer is the most recent blow to Apple Day by day after authorities final month directed jailed tycoon Lai’s shares in Subsequent Digital , writer of the newspaper, to be frozen.

Buying and selling within the firm’s inventory on the Hong Kong bourse was suspended on Thursday.

Requested how lengthy he thinks the newspaper can survive, Simon stated: “It’s lower than us. It’s as much as them. There’s 100 cops in our newsroom. They resolve, not us.”

Apple Day by day is an unapologetic tabloid that mixes pro-democracy discourse with celeb gossip and investigations of these in energy and is well-liked in Hong Kong.

In Might, Reuters reported that Hong Kong’s safety chief despatched letters to Lai and branches of HSBC and Citibank threatening as much as seven years in jail for any dealings with the billionaire’s accounts within the metropolis.

Lai’s belongings have been additionally frozen underneath the identical legislation. (Reporting by Sharon Tam, Donny Kwok, Sharon Abratique, Clare Jim and Anne Marie Roantree and Marius Zaharia; Enhancing by Michael Perry and Gerry Doyle)