A veteran Hong Kong journalist was yesterday arrested by national security police for allegedly conspiring to publish “seditious materials,” police said.
The arrest is the latest blow to the media in Hong Kong, which has seen its freedom rating plummet as Beijing cracks down on dissent.
Allan Au (區家麟), a 54-year-old reporter and journalism lecturer, was arrested in a dawn raid by the Hong Kong National Security Police unit, multiple local media outlets reported.
A senior police source confirmed Au’s arrest on a charge of “conspiracy to publish seditious materials.”
Police later confirmed the arrest of a 54-year-old on the same charge in a statement that did not name Au, which is local practice.
“Further arrests may be made,” the statement said.
Au is a former columnist for Stand News, an online news platform that was shuttered in December last year after authorities froze the company’s assets using the National Security Law.
Two other senior employees of Stand News have already been charged with sedition.
National security charges have also been brought against jailed pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英) and six former senior executives of the Apple Daily.
Once Hong Kong’s most popular tabloid, the Apple Daily collapsed last year when its newsroom was raided and assets were frozen under the National Security Law.
Soon after Stand News was shut down, Au began to write “good morning” each day on his Facebook page to confirm his safety.
One of the territory’s most experienced local columnists, he was a Knight fellow at Stanford University in 2005 and earned a doctorate from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Au in 2017 published a book about censorship in Hong Kong titled Freedom Under 20 Shades of Shadow.
Au spent more than a decade working for RTHK, Hong Kong’s government broadcaster, running a current affairs show, but he was axed last year after the authorities declared a shake-up that began transforming the once editorially independent broadcaster into something more resembling Chinese state media.
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
SAFETY FIRST: Double the number of police were deployed at the Taipei Marathon, while other cities released plans to bolster public event safety Authorities across Taiwan have stepped up security measures ahead of Christmas and New Year events, following a knife and smoke bomb attack in Taipei on Friday that left four people dead and 11 injured. In a bid to prevent potential copycat incidents, police deployments have been expanded for large gatherings, transport hubs, and other crowded public spaces, according to official statements from police and city authorities. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city has “comprehensively raised security readiness” in crowded areas, increased police deployments with armed officers, and intensified patrols during weekends and nighttime hours. For large-scale events, security checkpoints and explosives
PUBLIC SAFETY: The premier said that security would be tightened in transport hubs, while President Lai commended the public for their bravery The government is to deploy more police, including rapid response units, in crowded public areas to ensure a swift response to any threats, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after a knife attack killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei the previous day. Lai made the remarks following a briefing by the National Police Agency on the progress of the investigation, saying that the attack underscored the importance of cooperation in public security between the central and local governments. The attack unfolded in the early evening on Friday around Taipei Main Station’s M7 exit and later near the Taipei MRT’s Zhongshan
RSS