The Hong Kong National Security Law was passed in June 2020, enacted by the Chinese Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in Beijing. It prohibits “separatism, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference” in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong police raided the office of Apple Daily and arrested five executives, including editor-in-chief Ryan Law and NextDigital CEO Cheung Kim-hung, the outlet reported on Thursday.
According to the report, the officers accessed the computers of the staffers and requested that everyone register with their identity cards, staff ID and personal information before they enter, while not allowing the journalists to return to their desks. The outlet also said the reporters were prohibited to film or live-stream the raid.
Besides Law and Kim-hung, among those arrested were COO Royston Chow, associate publisher Chan Pui-man and the platform director of Apple Daily Digital, Cheung Chi-wai. The executives are accused of ‘foreign collusion' in breach of Article 29 of the China's new National Security Law for Hong Kong.
During a press conference after the raid, a senior superintendent, Steve Li, told reporters that HK$18 million (US$2.3m) in assets owned by Apple Daily had been frozen under the National Security Law. He also outlined that the raid on Apple Daily is not intended to be a target on the wider media industry, only relating to one company.
Apple Daily cited a government statement on the raid, which said that the operation was…
