By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-09-27 00:52:46 | Updated at 2024-09-30 13:24:07
3 days ago
The jailing of two Hong Kong journalists under the colonial-era sedition law will reinforce a “chilling effect” on the media but will not have a significant immediate impact on news outlets, which have already become more cautious in recent years, observers and academics have said.
They also said the case reflected the “real dangers” journalists in Hong Kong were facing while performing their duties.
But a government adviser insisted that the ruling would not have any deterrent effect on the industry while offering reassurances press freedoms remained intact.
On Thursday, District Court judge Kwok Wai-kin sentenced former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and ex-acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam Shiu-tung. The judge imposed a jail term of 21 months on Chung and set a starting point of 14 months for Lam before reducing it by three months due to his medical condition.
Lam was released after taking into account his time already spent in custody and consideration of the treatment he needed for a rare disease.
