The arrest and detention in Hong Kong of prominent journalists has been denounced by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI).
The editor-in-chief and four directors of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily newspaper were detained under the controversial National Security Law.
The offices of the newspaper were raided by 500 police officers in an attempt to stifle free speech and pro-democracy voices in Hong Kong, with journalists’ materials and equipment rifled and 38 computers seized, IBAHRI has said.
HK$18 million in assets were frozen to cripple the viability of the organisation.
Editor-in-chief, Ryan Law, chief executive Cheung Kim-hung, chief operating officer, Chow Tat-kuen, deputy chief editor, Chan Puiman and chief executive editor, Cheung Chi-wai were all arrested in their homes for allegedly colluding with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.
Hong Kong security chief John Lee said that those arrested were not ‘normal journalists’.
Freedom of the press
IBAHRI says this is the latest in a long line of targeted arrests designed to silence critical voices and bring an unlawful end to the constitutional principle of ‘One Country, Two Systems’.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab commented: “Freedom of the press is one of the rights China promised to protect in the Joint Declaration and should be respected.”
Sanctions
IBAHRI has called on the British Government and the EU to go further in their condemnation and impose targeted sanctions on those ordering the raids.
IBAHRI co-chair and Immediate Past Secretary General of the Swedish Bar Association, Anne Ramberg commented: “These arrests are deeply troubling in their own right, but also as a sign of what may be to come.
Shut down
“If the authorities manage to shut down the Apple Daily, as is clearly their intention, the future of Hong Kong appears bleak.
“IBAHRI calls on the United Kingdom to commit to upholding the Sino-British Joint Declaration, under which citizens of Hong Kong remain entitled to greater legal protection.
“Additionally, we urge the international community to take more effective action in response to such blatant disregard for human rights.”
IBAHRI director, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC stated: “The recent arrests at the Apple Daily in Hong Kong are appalling but unfortunately not surprising. The National Security Law has been continually wielded as a tool to smother the pro-democracy movement and allow for the wholesale erosion of human rights in Hong Kong.
“Because, without free speech and the free exchange of information and ideas, repression becomes inevitable, as dissent is the most powerful threat to a government which seeks to serve only itself and not its people.”
Pro-democracy voices
The Apple Daily was previously raided in August 2020, leading to the arrests of 10 people, including owner Jimmy Lai, one of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy voices.
IBAHRI says the latest arrests and the freezing of assets demonstrates that authorities will not stop until the newspaper is silenced.
“This not only violates those individuals’ rights to free speech and due process, but it is also a violation of rights of the entire population, which is entitled to receive information and all types of ideas as part of a democratic society,” the body says.