Hong Kong Forces Last Major Pro-Democracy News Outlet to Shut
- Pop star Denise Ho among seven arrested under sedition charge
- Media faces growing pressure from China-imposed security law
Source: Quicktake
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Hong Kong’s biggest remaining pro-democracy news outlet closed after becoming the target of a national security investigation, capping a year of historic strokes by Beijing to silence dissent in the Asian financial center.
Stand News announced Wednesday on Facebook that it would immediately lay off all staff and cease operations, and take down its website and social media accounts within days. The move came hours after more than 200 police raided the outlet’s newsroom, froze some HK$61 million ($7.8 million) of assets and arrested seven people connected to it on a colonial-era sedition law. They included acting Editor-in-Chief Patrick Lam and Denise Ho, a pop star who had testified about Hong Kong before the U.S. Congress.