Hong Kong police arrest former Apple Daily senior editor

21 July 2021, 13:34

Lam Man-chung gives a thumbs-up gesture in the offices of the Apple Daily last month when the paper was forced to close
Hong Kong. Picture: PA

Lam Man-chung was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security.

Hong Kong national security police on Wednesday arrested a former editor at the now-defunct Apple Daily pro-democracy newspaper, weeks after the paper was forced to close after authorities froze its assets.

Lam Man-chung, who was the executive editor-in-chief of Apple Daily, was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security, according to the South China Morning Post newspaper, which cited an unnamed source. He was the eighth person from the newspaper to be arrested in recent weeks.

Two other former Apple Daily journalists — associate publisher and deputy chief editor Chan Pui-man and chief editorial writer Fung Wai-kong — were also detained on Wednesday after their bail was revoked, according to local media reports.

Ms Chan was among the five Apple Daily executives and editors arrested on June 17, and Mr Fung was first arrested at the airport late last month while allegedly attempting to leave on a flight to the UK.

Hong Kong
Lam Man-chung, left, and Chan Pui-man, associate publisher of Apple Daily, at the newspaper’s offices before it stopped publishing last month (Kin Cheung/AP)

Police said that a 51-year-old former editor was arrested on Wednesday in relation to a similar case in June, but did not identify the person arrested.

They also confirmed that they had revoked bail arrangements for a 51-year-old woman and a 57-year-old man who were arrested in June and are detaining them for further investigation.

Hong Kong security minister Chris Tang denied that the arrests would trigger a “white terror” — a term referring to a climate of fear caused by political repression — among journalists.

“Whoever committed an offence will be arrested, disregarding their background, whatever they do, or what are their professions,” he said.

“It doesn’t really matter. If they committed an offence, they will be arrested. And if there is any evidence, they will be prosecuted.”

Freedom of the press and the freedom to publish are important cornerstones for the success of an international city

Hong Kong Journalists Association

The Hong Kong Journalists Association criticised the “repeated targeting of journalists” from Apple Daily, stating that it was “shocked and puzzled” by the arrest of Lam since the newspaper had already ceased operations.

The association also asked the government to explain how news and publishing work that has been legally carried out and is protected under the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, could endanger national security.

“Freedom of the press and the freedom to publish are important cornerstones for the success of an international city,” it said on its Facebook page.

In June, police raided the newspaper’s offices, taking away hard drives and laptops as evidence.

The arrests of top executives, editors and journalists at the paper, as well as the freezing of 2.3 million dollars (£1.69 million) worth of assets, led Apply Daily to cease its operations last month. It sold a million copies of its final edition.

Following months of anti-government protests in 2019, Beijing last year imposed a sweeping national security law in Hong Kong which critics say restricts the freedoms promised to the former British colony that are not found on mainland China.

More than 100 pro-democracy supporters have been arrested, and many others fled abroad.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Video footage shows the convoy had emergency lights flashing when it was hit

Israel admits ‘mistakenly’ killing 15 aid workers after video leak contradicted official version of events

Jaguar Land Rover has paused shipments to the US in the wake of 'Liberation Day' tariffs

Jaguar Land Rover halts shipments to US in wake of tariffs as Trump insists he'll win 'economic revolution'

Flowers and toys left on a swing seat to commemorate victims killed in Russia's missile attack on Friday

Death toll from Russian strike on Zelenskyy's home town rises as 18 confirmed dead - including nine children

Donald Trump's 10% tariff on UK products has officially come into force

Trump tariffs come into force as global stock markets plunge deeper into the red

Tom Howard

British tourist killed after being struck by boulder on trek through Himalayas

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a car burns following a Russian missile attack that killed more than a dozen people, including children, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Russia kills 16 people including three children in missile strike on Zelenskyy's home town, with dozens wounded

Travel influencer Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, made an illegal visit to North Sentinel Island

Tourist who left Coke for world's most isolated tribe 'could have wiped them all out' - and police 'can't go collect can'

White House weighs in to support ‘censored’ anti-abortion activists in Britain

White House looking to support ‘censored’ anti-abortion activists in Britain

This image provided by NASA shows Nick Hague, right, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore. (NASA via AP)

Stranded NASA astronauts reveal they were almost trapped in space 'forever' after horror malfunction

Donald Trump demands France 'free Marine Le Pen'

Donald Trump demands France 'free Marine Le Pen' after far-right leader found guilty of embezzlement in 'witch hunt'

China will impose a 34% retaliatory tariff on imports from the US

China announces additional 34% tariffs on US imports in retaliation over Trump's 'Liberation Day' levies

Friends of Prince Andrew say he's "unsurprised" Giuffre made the post

Prince Andrew 'not surprised' his accuser shared shock post saying she had 'four days to live'

South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol

South Korea president Yoon Suk Yeol removed from office as impeachment upheld over martial law declaration

Virginia Giuffre

Woman driving Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre during crash that left her with 'four days to live' breaks silence

Exclusive
'Donald Trump has made Putin comfortable,' Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned

'Trump has made Putin comfortable' despite massive Ukraine war losses, exiled former oligarch tells LBC

The bodies of Andrew Searle and his wife Dawn were discovered by a neighbour.

British couple found dead in south of France home being ‘treated as murder-suicide’