香港两名前《立场新闻》主编因被指煽动颠覆罪被判入狱，其判决遭美国与西方政府批评，视之为对新闻自由的重大打击。
中国内地与香港当局认为，这是一次正当的司法行为，强调“像所有人一样，记者有义务遵守所有法律法规。”他们还认为，自2020年北京实施国家安全法以回应长达数月的反独裁抗议以来，新闻自由在整体上有所下滑。此举旨在恢复秩序，在抗议活动中有时出现了暴力。
此判决标志了香港回归中国后的首批媒体人因使用殖民时代的法律被判煽动颠覆罪入狱事件——该法律将煽动行为定义为对中央政府、香港特区政府或司法的仇恨或蔑视，并处以最高两年监禁。这与后来实施的地方国家安全法不符，后者将煽动罪刑期上限提升至七年，若涉及与外国势力勾结，则刑期升至十年。
Chung Pui-kuen 和 Patrick Lam 的审判始于2022年，二人被指其《立场新闻》刊登的11篇文章含有煽动意图。他们是在法院裁定后被判有罪，并非因其记者职责而获定罪。法官 Kwok Wai-kin 表示，《立场新闻》可能并未进行纯粹的新闻报道。
Chung Pui-kuen 被判监禁21个月，Patrick Lam 则被判处14个月起算，但因健康原因已被即时释放。二人在审判开始逾两小时后到场，并由律师 Audrey Eu 代表出庭辩护称，他们是在履行记者职责，报道社会紧张与不同观点。
此判决引发了对新闻自由的担忧。香港自英国殖民统治回归中国以来一直被视为亚洲新闻自由的灯塔，但随着2019年多月的反独裁抗议和随后更广泛的打压政策的实施，这种地位正在下降。
在审判现场等待出席的人排起了长队，并有人自备椅子。两位前主编都到场接受判决结果，且审理过程延迟了超过两小时。
《立场新闻》于2021年被国家安全警察搜查、冻结资产并逮捕了几人后关闭。该报因政治和社会报道而受到重视，在2019年的抗议活动中崭露头角。
警方表示正在追踪与香港记者的连环攻击和威胁事件，包括来自不同媒体机构的数十名记者在家、工作地点和其他地方收到威胁和诽谤邮件或信件。还有投诉发给了他们的家人、雇主或房东，并警告称持续与这些记者保持联系可能导致违反国家安全法的风险。
网络上也有人发布含有针对香港记者仇恨内容的信息，其中有的照片被合成至刀具或射击目标图像中。
自2018年以来，香港在《无国界记者世界新闻自由指数》中的排名已从第70位降至2024年的第135位。中国外交部驻港办事处表示，该判决是公正的裁决，与新闻自由无关，并强调“即使面对制裁和负面叙事，今天的香港依然开放自由”。
此次事件引发了关于媒体环境的广泛讨论和担忧，凸显了对言论自由和新闻独立性的挑战。
新闻来源：www.nbcnews.com
原文地址：Two Hong Kong journalists sentenced to jail in sedition case criticized by U.S.
新闻日期：2024-09-26
原文摘要：
Two Hong Kong journalists who led a pro-democracy newspaper were sentenced to jail on Thursday after being convicted of sedition last month in a verdict seen as a further blow to press freedom in the Chinese territory. Chung Pui-kuen, the former editor-in-chief of the now-defunct Stand News, was sentenced to 21 months, while Patrick Lam, the newspaper’s former acting editor-in-chief, received 14 months as a starting point but after reductions was immediately released because of a health condition. They had been found guilty over 11 articles the court deemed as having “seditious intentions,” including several commentaries by Hong Kong pro-democracy activists living in self-exile. Both men had already served close to a year in pre-trial detention. The U.S. and other Western governments had criticized their conviction, with the U.S. calling it a “direct attack on media freedom” while the European Union said it “risks further inhibiting the pluralistic exchange of ideas and the free flow of information.” Hong Kong authorities expressed “strong disapproval” of such criticisms, saying that “journalists, like everyone else, have an obligation to abide by all the laws.” Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997 on the promise that its civil liberties would be preserved for 50 years, was long seen as a beacon of press freedom in Asia. But critics say press freedom has deteriorated as part of a broader crackdown on dissent since Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 in response to mass pro-democracy demonstrations that roiled the city for months in 2019. Chinese and Hong Kong authorities say the national security law, as well as local national security legislation enacted in March, were necessary to restore stability after the protests, which sometimes turned violent. Chung and Lam, whose trial began in 2022, were the first journalists since Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule to be convicted under a colonial-era law that made sedition, defined as inciting hatred or contempt against the Chinese central government, the Hong Kong government or the judiciary, punishable by up to two years in prison. That law has since been replaced by the local national security legislation, known informally as Article 23, which raises the maximum penalty for sedition to seven years, and 10 years if an offense is found to have involved “collusion with foreign forces.” On Thursday, many people waited in line to attend the hearing, with some bringing their own chairs. Both Chung, 55, and Lam, 36, were at the sentencing, which began more than two hours late. Their lawyer, Audrey Eu, argued that Chung and Lam were simply doing their jobs as journalists, reporting on social tensions and different people’s opinions. Judge Kwok Wai-kin, who was handpicked by Hong Kong’s top leader to preside over the trial, rejected this claim and said the defendants were not convicted for fulfilling their responsibilities as journalists. He also questioned whether Stand News was doing pure journalism. “The responsibility of journalists is to tell the truth, not to spread falsehoods or half-truths,” Kwok said. “Only those who intend to skirt the boundaries of the law would worry about inadvertently breaking it.” Founded as a nonprofit in 2014, Stand News was known for its political and social coverage, gaining new prominence during the 2019 protests. Though government officials criticized the paper’s reporting, that year it was rated among the city’s most credible news outlets by Hong Kong residents, according to a survey by researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In 2021, national security police raided the Stand News office, froze its assets and arrested several people, including Lam and Chung. The outlet shut down the same day and erased all its content. “We are not targeting reporters. We are targeting national security offenses,” Steve Li, chief superintendent of the national security police, said at the time. In a mitigation letter submitted to the court, Lam said a police officer told him in the early days of his detention, “We’re each serving our own master.” Looking back, Lam said, “I regret not taking the opportunity to explain to the officer that journalists do not serve anyone, pledge allegiance to anyone, or oppose anyone. If we are truly loyal to anyone, it can only be to the public.” Chung wrote in his mitigation letter that many Hong Kong journalists had “steadfastly” remained in the field despite the growing pressures they face. “To truthfully record and report their stories and ideas is a responsibility that journalists cannot shirk,” he said. Earlier this month, the Hong Kong Journalists Association, a local press group, said dozens of Hong Kong journalists had been targeted by a “systemic” online and offline harassment and intimidation campaign that was the largest in scale the group had ever seen. Selina Cheng, the chair of the group, said that since June, dozens of journalists from more than a dozen media outlets had received threatening and defamatory emails and letters at their homes, workplaces and elsewhere. More than a dozen journalists said complaints had also been sent to their family members, employers or landlords, some of which warned that continued association with the journalists risked breaching national security laws. Other journalists were the subject of “hateful content” online, some of which combined their photos with knives and shooting targets. Hong Kong law enforcement officials have encouraged the affected journalists to file police reports and say the cases will be handled impartially, though Hong Kong’s top leader, John Lee, has declined to explicitly condemn the harassment. There have also been rising reports of non-local journalists being denied work visas or entry to Hong Kong, an international media hub. Aleksandra Bielakowska, a Taiwan-based advocacy officer at Reporters Without Borders, called the Stand News verdict “another nail in the coffin” for Hong Kong’s press freedom. “It marks the first time in the modern history of Hong Kong when a journalist, reporting on the facts, is receiving punishment for their articles critical of the authorities,” she said in an email Thursday, adding that it sets a “dangerous” precedent that could be used to further suppress dissent. Hong Kong ranked 135th out of 180 countries and territories in Reporters Without Borders’ 2024 World Press Freedom Index, compared with 70th in 2018. After Lam and Chung were convicted last month, the office of China’s Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong said it was a “clear case of justice being served and has nothing to do with press freedom.” “Despite sanctions and negative narratives, Hong Kong today remains open and free, with journalists able to carry out their work without hindrance,” it said.
