Hong Kong's pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily announces closure amid crackdown

Hong Kong’s outspoken pro-democracy Apple Daily on June 23 announced its closure after assets freeze in a major blow to media freedom. The Hong Kong officials have frozen HK$18m ($2.3m; £1.64m) of assets owned by three companies linked to Apple Daily. Police also arrested five top editors and executives of Apple Daily under the city's tough national security law on suspicion of foreign collusion

The arrests and freezing of assets came as Hong Kong authorities crackdown on dissenting voices as Beijing tightened control over the territory. Apple Daily has been outspoken in defending Hong Kong’s freedoms. In recent years, it has often criticised 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.

Top executives denied bail 

Meanwhile, chief editor Ryan Law and chief executive Cheung Kim-hung were denied bail after being charged with collusion with a foreign country. The two executives were among five others who were arrested on Thursday when 500 police raised the outlet’s newsroom. Police said the arrests were based on more than 30 articles that had appeared in the Apple Daily since the security law took effect. 

The latest clampdown by pro-Beijing authorities in Hong Kong has caused a stir across the globe. China has garnered a lot of flak from the international community since it passed the controversial National Security Law on June 30, 2020. So far, several social activists, mostly pro-democracy advocates, accused of endangering China's national security have been charged under the law. The United States and several other western nations, including Britain, the former coloniser of Hong Kong, have strongly condemned the implementation of the law, which sparked widespread protests in the city.

(Image: AP)