Team News Riveting
At the newsroom of Apple Daily in Hong Kong, business was as usual on Tuesday as the newspaper vowed to “fight on” after the arrest of it owner Jimmy Lai under a controversial security law imposed by Beijing.
The paper’s front page showed an image of Lai in handcuffs with the headline: “Apple Daily must fight on.” According to reports, Hong Kongers were seen queuing for a copy as early as 02:30 in many parts of the city as vendors reported selling out of the popular tabloid founded by Lai.
The paper, which offers a rare and unvarnished take on Hong Kong and China’s leadership, said more than 500,000 copies were printed, up from the usual 100,000.
Meanwhile, Chinese officials had issued a stark warning to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong for condemning Monday’s arrests of media mogul and pro-democracy voice Jimmy Lai and six others including his two sons.
The warning from the Chinese officials is seen as another sign of the growing curbs on Hong Kong’s media. The Office of the Commissioners of the Chinese foreign ministry in Hong Kong told the FCC to “stop defaming the implementation” of the new law “under the pretext of the freedom of the press”, state media Xinhua reported.
The UN also expressed renewed concern. The office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on the authorities to monitor the operation of the law and “amend it if necessary to ensure there is no scope for its misuse to restrict human rights guaranteed by international law and the Basic Law of Hong Kong”.
Pro-democracy protest flared in Hong Kong last year over plans to allow extradition from the territory to mainland China. While this proposal was eventually withdrawn, the demonstrations carried on, to reflect widespread demands for democratic reforms.
