Hong Kong’s last pro-democracy newspaper will shut down this week after five of its top editors and executives were arrested last Thursday.
Apple Daily will shut down in the coming days due to “the current circumstances prevailing in Hong Kong,” the paper’s parent company, Next Media, said in a statement on Wednesday.
The final print edition will come out no later than this Saturday, which is also the final day the digital version of the paper will be accessible to readers.
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In addition to the arrests made last Thursday, which were conducted under the guise of foreign collusion, the publication had $2.3 million of its assets frozen. Hundreds of police officers and security agents raided the paper’s offices at the time, declaring the offices to be a crime scene. It came after the publication printed more than 30 articles that called for international sanctions against China and Hong Kong.
The collusion offense is related to a Hong Kong “national security” law established by the Chinese government in the summer of 2020, which criminalized acts of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces.
Jimmy Lai, the owner of the company that publishes Apple Daily, was found guilty of unlawful assembly in April in relation to a 2019 protest. He will now have to serve over a year in prison. Lai is likely to face additional charges in relation to the national security law.
In the face of China’s crackdown, Apple Daily, which Lai founded in 1995, has become a rallying point of sorts for the people of Hong Kong.
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The outlet thanked its readers in an Instagram post.
“Even if the ending is not what we want, even if it’s difficult to let go, we need to continue living and keep the determination we have shared with Hong Kong people that has remained unchanged over 26 years,” Apple Daily wrote, according to the Associated Press.
“Through arrests, threats, and forcing through a National Security Law that penalizes free speech, Beijing has insisted on wielding its power to suppress independent media and silence dissenting views,” President Joe Biden said in a statement on Thursday.
“Independent media play an invaluable role in resilient and prosperous societies,” he added. “Journalists are truth-tellers who hold leaders accountable and keep information flowing freely—and that is needed now more than ever in Hong Kong, and in places around the world where democracy is under threat. Beijing must stop targeting the independent press and release the journalists and media executives that have been detained. The act of journalism is not a crime.”
