Defiant Hong Kongers buy out final edition of pro-democracy newspaper after government crackdown
The final edition of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily sold out after the pro-democracy newspaper announced it would cease operations following a crackdown by authorities. It printed a million copies of its final issue and was sold out by Thursday morning.
Hordes of citizens lined up to buy out the last edition of the pro-democracy paper on Thursday.
Apple Daily announced its closure after its offices were raided last week over allegations that several reports had breached a national security law which makes undermining the government a criminal offence.
The paper’s management said on Wednesday it had decided “to cease operation immediately after midnight,” citing the safety of staff members, making Thursday’s publication the final printed edition.
Police detained the chief editor and five other executives, and company-linked assets were frozen. Two editors were then charged with conspiracy to commit collusion with a foreign country and their bails were denied on Saturday.
The editor-in-chief and four other executives were arrested from their homes and had HK$18m ($2.3m; £1.64m) worth in assets frozen. These assets were owned by three companies linked to Apple Daily – Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited and AD Internet Limited
The paper reported extensively on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Its founder Jimmy Lai is already in jail on a number of charges.
Apple Daily kicked off as a local paper covering celebrity news but evolved over a span of 26 years into one of the loudest pro-democracy voices challenging China.
China introduced the national security law in Hong Kong last year in response to massive pro-democracy protests, stripping Hong Kong of its judicial autonomy and making it easier for demonstrators and activists to be prosecuted.
The law criminalises secession, subversion and collusion with foreign forces with the maximum sentence being life in prison. The law was enacted in June and has enabled the arrest of more than 100 people.
Governments across the world and rights groups slammed the newspaper’s closure.
The UK’s foreign secretary Dominic Raab condemned the action on Twitter and in a statement, saying that “The forced closure of @AppleDaily_HK by Hong Kong authorities is a chilling demonstration of their campaign to silence all opposition voices. It is clearer than ever that the NSL is being used to curtail freedom & punish dissent.”
