HONG KONG – In a pivotal legal proceeding that has captured international attention, former executives of a pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong, now shuttered, have appealed for leniency in their sentencing. Convicted under a contentious national security law, this case is widely viewed as a critical indicator of the state of media freedom in a city that was once heralded as a beacon of press liberty in Asia.

In 2022, these ex-journalists admitted to conspiracy charges, confessing to colluding with foreign entities to jeopardize national security. They acknowledged collaborating with their former employer, the prominent media figure Jimmy Lai, to solicit foreign intervention through sanctions or blockades against Hong Kong or China.

Despite pleading not guilty, Lai, the founder of Apple Daily, was convicted in December. His conviction has intensified fears over dwindling press freedoms in the city, drawing sharp rebukes from international governments who view the verdict as a troubling precedent.

The Hong Kong government, however, maintains that the case is unrelated to media freedom. Officials argue that the defendants masked their actions as journalistic endeavors while engaging in activities detrimental to China and Hong Kong over several years.

The court has yet to announce the sentences for the former executives, leaving the media and public in anticipation of the outcome.

Defendants ask for a sentence reduction

Six Apple Daily executives were convicted in Lai’s case: publisher Cheung Kim-hung; associate publisher Chan Pui-man; editor-in-chief Ryan Law; executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung; executive editor-in-chief responsible for English news Fung Wai-kong; and editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee. Some of them served as prosecution witnesses during the 156-day trial.

A conviction on the collusion charge carries a sentence ranging from three years to life in prison. But a guilty plea can result in a sentence reduction. Under the security law, a reduced penalty may be granted to those who report on offenses committed by others.

Chan’s lawyer, Marco Li, said if the judges decided to place his client in the upper sentencing band, he suggested the starting point should be 10 years, given her limited role. Citing factors including her timely plea and assistance to the prosecution, he asked for her sentence to be halved.

Li said Chan, who started working at Apple Daily in 1996, regretted not resisting even more firmly when matters arose that made her uncomfortable. But according to her mitigation letter, Chan couldn’t leave her beloved job casually at that time because she was suffering serious health issues and was under financial burden.

Chung Pui-kuen, Chan’s husband and a former top editor of the now-shuttered Stand News, was among those in the public gallery. He was sentenced to 21 months in jail in a separate sedition case.

Apple Daily closure dealt a blow to Hong Kong press scene

Lai founded Apple Daily in 1995, two years before Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese rule. It attracted a strong following with its sometimes sensational reports, investigative scoops and eventual short animated video reports. Being openly critical of the Hong Kong and Chinese governments, the newspaper was well-received among pro-democracy readers.

During Hong Kong’s massive anti-government protests in 2019, Apple Daily ran articles sympathetic to protesters and supportive of the pro-democracy movement that saw hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets.

After Beijing imposed the security law to quell the protests, Lai was one of the first prominent figures to be arrested. Within a year, Apple Daily’s former executives also were arrested. The prosecutions, asset freeze and police raids forced the newspaper’s closure in June 2021. Its final edition sold a million copies.

In their December verdict, the three government-appointed judges said Lai had used Apple Daily as a platform for spreading his political ideas and implementing his political agenda before and after the introduction of the security law.

The judges on Monday heard arguments about the sentencing of Lai, Cheung and two other non-Apple Daily activists involved in the former publisher’s case.

When Lai entered the courtroom Tuesday, he smiled at people sitting in the public gallery as a supporter formed a heart shape with her hands.