HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper will stop publishing Thursday, following last week’s arrest of five editors and executives and the freezing of $2.3 million in assets under the city’s year-old national security law.
The board of directors of parent company Next Media said in a statement Wednesday that the print edition and online edition will cease due to “the current circumstances prevailing in Hong Kong.” The paper later said Thursday’s edition will be its last.
The silencing of a prominent pro-democracy voice is the latest sign of China’s determination to exert greater control over the semi-autonomous territory after huge protests in 2019 shook the government. Since then, Beijing has imposed a strict national security law to curb dissent and revamped Hong Kong’s election laws to keep opposition voices out of the legislature.
The Apple Daily announcement coincided with the start of the city’s first trial under the national security law, which is being closely watched as a barometer of how strictly the courts will interpret it.
The widely expected move to close Apple Daily followed last week’s arrests of the five editors and executives, who were detained on suspicion of colluding with foreigners to endanger national security. Police cited more than 30 articles published by the paper as evidence of an alleged conspiracy to encourage foreign nations to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and China.
The police action against Apple Daily was the first time the national security law had been used against journalists for something they had published, in an intensifying crackdown by authorities in a city long known for its freedoms.
Apple Daily reported that its management made the decision out of concern for employee safety and staffing issues.
Police also Wednesday arrested a 55-year-old man on suspicion of foreign collusion to endanger national security. According to Apple Daily, which cited unidentified sources, the man writes editorials for the newspaper under the pseudonym Li Ping.
Apple Daily has been outspoken in defending Hong Kong’s freedoms, and in recent years has often criticized the Chinese and Hong Kong governments for limiting the city’s democratic freedoms as well as constricting the rights of free speech and assembly not found on mainland China.
The paper has in recent years come under increasing scrutiny over its pro-democracy stance. Its founder, media tycoon Jimmy Lai, is facing charges under the national security law for foreign collusion and is currently serving a prison sentence for his involvement in unauthorized assemblies in 2019, during a time of massive anti-government protests in the city.
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