News Report by Shreya Agarawal.
Hong Kong, June 27: Apple Daily was a pro-democracy (in favour of democracy) daily published by Next Digital, a Hong Kong (HK) based media business. It was closed due to alleged violations of HK’s National Security Law. It was one of HK’s most popular and best-selling newspapers. It mostly put forth pro- democratic viewpoints and publicly criticised China’s Communist leadership.
The Apple Daily office was raided by 200 police officers on August 10, 2020. Following this raid, Jimmy Lai (founder of Apple Daily), his two sons, and two Next Digital executives were arrested on suspicion of ‘foreign collusion or Cooperation and later released on August 12, 2020. The workplace was raided again in June 2021, this time by 500 police officers. Their assets (all resources including money) have been frozen.
The raid was followed by the arrest of Apple Daily’s editor-in-chief and four other executives. Because the assets were frozen, the agency was unable to pay its staff. On June 23rd, Apple Daily management declared that the paper will be closed for the sake of staff members’ safety and would cease operations at midnight. The final edition of the newspaper was released on June 24th . People wept as they said their final goodbyes, and everyone rushed to purchase the last edition, which did a record circulation of around one million copies.
Brief History:
HK was a British colony until 1997, when it was returned to China under the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed in 1984. For the next fifty years, until 2047, the declaration granted HK a high degree of autonomy(freedom) to stay independent of Mainland China still being under its rule. This structure was referred to as “one country, two systems.”
Hong Kong’s National Security Law:
In recent years, Beijing has tightened restrictions on HK’s freedoms, sparking major protests in the city and attracting international condemnation. On June 30, 2020, Beijing enacted a national security law that gave it new powers to punish critics and silence dissent (disagreements) in HK. This has the potential to substantially alter the free life that individuals lead in Hong Kong.
Some of the important rules according to this law: –
1. If crimes like secession (disassociating from a country), subversion (undermining the national security law), terrorism (using threat/violence to create fear) and collusion (secret cooperation) with external forces are committed by someone, they can be imprisoned for life.
2. China intends to establish a new security office in Hong Kong. People who work there will be appointed by China. The new security office, and its enforcement personnels, will not be subjected to HK’s jurisdiction (HK’s Law).
3. Hong Kong will be required to establish its own commission to implement these national security laws; the commission’s adviser will be nominated by China.
4. National security cases involving state secrets will be heard without a jury. Only the results of the trials will be made public. some serious cases can also be sent to be tried in mainland China.
5. Any type of dissent, minor or major, can be prosecuted under national security legislation,making it easy to indict anyone.
6. People suspected of breaching the law can be put under surveillance.
7. Companies that break the law will be prosecuted. (This is the reason Apple Daily was prosecuted).
8. Those found guilty will be barred from running for public office.
9. The law will also apply to Hong Kong residents as well as non-permanent residents.
