Apple Daily sentences show new era of media peril in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong court that sentenced the pro-democracy media mogul, Jimmy Lai to 20 years in jail Monday also issued heavy sentences to six former employees of his now-shuttered newspaper, setting a new standard for the city's limits on press freedom.On Monday, the court handed down 10-year prison terms to the paper's leading editorial voices: editor-in-chief Law Wai-kwong, executive editor Lam Man-chung, and an editorial writer, Fung Wai-kong. Others received significant terms as well: Yeung Ching-kee, another editorial writer, was sentenced to seven years and three months; an associate publisher Chan Pui-man, seven years, and Cheung Kim-hung, a publisher, six years and nine months.Rights activists and journalist groups have said the prosecution of editors and journalists in Hong Kong illustrated the decline of press freedom in the city and raised questions about what journalistic activities the authorities might consider illegal. Govt has hit back at those criticisms, saying that journalists have to abide by Hong Kong's laws.Several scribes and photographers have been denied work visas or barred from entering the city, including an Associated Press photographer who previously photographed Lai walking in a barbed wire enclosure. Many local news outlets have stopped reporting on efforts by Hong Kong activists, now in exile, who draw attention to China's crackdown on the city. Press freedom advocates say the territory's security laws significantly raise the risks for journalists.

Hong Kong's vague definition of external interference can be broadly applied to regular journalistic work, activists say. NYT