Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily will be forced to shut “in a matter of days” after authorities froze the company’s assets under a national security law, an adviser to jailed owner Jimmy Lai says.
According to reports, Friday will be the last day for the 26-year-old newspaper.
Media advocacy groups say that the closure of Apple Daily would undermine the former British colony’s reputation as an open and free society and send a warning to other companies that could be accused of colluding with a foreign country.
The publisher’s head company Next Digital will hold a board meeting on Monday to
discuss how to move forward after its lines of credit were frozen.
“We must press on”: news raid sends “shockwaves” through Hong-Kong
Following raids on a Hong Kong newsroom last week, a journalist based in the city-state says it has sent “shockwaves” through the entire industry.
500 Hong Kong police offices raided Apple Daily to arrest a number of top executives and seize documents over allegations the publisher breached national security laws.
Elaine Yu from the Wall Street Journal says the incident “raises important new questions about how media outlets can report on topics that are now considered highly sensitive.”
Apple Daily says the company’s CEO, COO and three editors were all arrested during the raids.
The behaviour of the individuals is said to have breached legislation that prohibits sedition, secession and subversion against Beijing.
The assistant to Apple Daily’s chairman says operations at the newsroom are limited because Hong Kong authorities have seized many of the company’s accounts.
He also says “it’ll get harder for reporters to get people to talk to them because the police can now potentially seize reporter’s files and devices through a court warrant.”
Sold out news stands with “we must press on” printed on front page
“We must press on”… that was the message on the front page of Apple Daily, that people in hong kong queued up for.
Many Hong Kong locals have have queued up to buy copies of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily… a day after its newsroom was raided by police.
The paper typically prints about 80,000 copies but increased that to 500,000 to meet demand.. and some news stands sold out.
A total of five executives were arrested including the Editor-in-chief and chief executive officer.
Update: HK police raid Apple Daily
— Apple Daily HK 蘋果日報 (@appledaily_hk) June 17, 2021
5 executives were taken away, including Editor-in-Chief Ryan Law and #NextDigital CEO Cheung Kim-hung.
Officers were seen accessing journalists' computers, and all employees were barred from returning to their seats to work.#AppleDailyENG pic.twitter.com/45nsFWmCfE
Police made the arrests on suspicion of collusion with a “foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security”.
Meanwhile, this is the second time that police have searched the building.
The company’s founder Jimmy Lai, was recently arrested for national security violations.
Mr Lai is currently serving a 20-month prison sentence.
The raid follows arrests made at the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre last month.
