Boxes of evidence are loaded onto a truck from the offices of online media outlet Stand News during a police raid in Hong Kong, China, on Wednesday December 29 2021. Picture: BLOOMBERG/PAUL YEUNG
The raid was the latest in a crackdown on the media and on dissent in general in the former British colony since China imposed a tough national security law in the city last year aimed at putting an end to months of pro-democracy protests. Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise that wide-ranging individual rights, including a free press, would be protected.
Media said the two people charged were former chief editor Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, acting chief editor at the time of the arrest. They are expected to appear in the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court later on Thursday.