Hong Kong’s embattled pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily reported Monday that its board of directors has asked police to unfreeze some funds so that it could pay salaries and avoid labor offenses, which the board will meet again on Friday to decide whether the newspaper will stop operations.
Police last week arrested five top editors and editors of Apple Daily under the city’s tough national safety legislation on suspicion of overseas collusion, searched its offices and froze $2.3 million worth of resources of 3 firms connected to the newspaper.
The arrests and freezing of resources came since Hong Kong government crack down on dissenting voices as Beijing tightens control over the territory in what critics say is an erosion of urgency it promised the city for 50 years when the former British colony was handed over to China in 1997.
Apple Daily has been vocal in safeguarding Hong Kong’s freedoms, and lately has regularly criticized the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities for limiting the city’s democratic liberty in addition to constricting the rights of free speech and assembly not located on mainland China.
Apple Daily said in a post on its website on Monday that if its board decides on Friday to cease operations of the newspaper, its website could stop publishing as soon as early Saturday afternoon, and Saturday’s print edition of the newspaper would be its last.
An internal department memo sent to some workers at Apple Daily also stated that individuals who want to resign immediately could do so.
Apple Daily said in a post on Sunday it may challenge the decision to freeze its assets in court in the event the city’s Security Bureau denies its petition.
The Security Bureau said it wouldn’t comment on the particulars of the situation because legal proceedings were ongoing.
“We handle these crimes according to the law, targeting at illegal actions, and invoke the power to suspend offense-related properties according to demand and the legislation,” the bureau said in an English-language statement. “Secretary for Security will manage in accordance with the law any application related to the frozen property”
The newspaper’s founder, media tycoon Jimmy Lai, was convicted earlier this year because of his involvement in unauthorized assemblies and is now in prison. Two of the five people arrested last week have also been charged with collusion with foreign nations.
The police operation against Apple Daily has attracted criticism from the U.S. and Britain, which state Hong Kong and Chinese authorities are targeting the city’s promised freedoms.
Chinese and Hong Kong officials have insisted that the media has to abide by the legislation, and that press freedom cannot be used as a”shield” for illegal activities.
