Hong Kong national security police arrest 3 former top staff of pro-democracy paper Apple Daily

Apple Daily’s ex-associate publisher Chan Pui-man, and Fung Wai-kong, ex-editor-in-chief of the English news section and editorial writer, had their bails revoked by national security police, iCable and Ming Pao reported. Both were in police custody.

The former executive editor-in-chief of Hong Kong’s defunct pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily was also arrested by the national security police on Wednesday morning for allegedly conspiring to collude with foreign powers to endanger national security, a source familiar with the matter confirmed with HKFP.

Police arrested Lam Man-chung and searched his house early on Wednesday morning, according to local media. An HKFP source familiar with the company’s operations confirmed Lam’s arrest.

Police confirmed in a statement that a 51-year-old male editor of a newspaper was arrested by the national security police in relation to a case last month. The man is now detained pending investigation.

Apple Daily June 24, 2021 — A support of Apple Daily holds a copy of its final edition outside the newspaper’s headquarters in Tseung Kwan O on June 24, 2021. File Photo: Studio Incendo.

Lam had resigned as executive editor-in-chief after he oversaw the publication of the newspaper’s last copy on June 24.

The board of the newspaper decided to cease all operations in Hong Kong at the end of June after five top executives and two lead opinion writers at Apple Daily and its parent company Next Digital were arrested under the Beijing-imposed national security law.

‘Collusion’ charges

The group’s founder, media tycoon Jimmy Lai, was arrested on suspicion of national security law violations last August. He has been remanded in custody since December last year and is currently serving a 20-month prison sentence over protest-related convictions.

Lai, along with Next Digital former CEO Cheung Kim-hung and Apple Daily’s editor-in-chief Ryan Law have been charged with colluding with foreign forces for allegedly calling on foreign countries to impose sanctions against the city or China.

Three companies, Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited, and AD Internet Limited, were also charged under the national security law. Assets worth HK$18 million worth were frozen by the authorities following the arrest the top executives.

Hong Kong Journalists Association slammed the police over Lam’s arrest in a statement published on Wednesday, and urged the government to stop “using the name of ‘national security’ to arrest journalists, spreading white terror to the sector.”