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Hong Kong: Award-winning Journalist from Hong Kong She won an appeal that overturned her conviction related to her work on the investigative documentary on Monday in a rare court ruling upholding media freedom in the province.
Bao Choi He was convicted in April 2021 of deceiving the government by obtaining vehicle ownership records for journalistic purposes after declaring in her online application that it would use the information for “other traffic and transportation matters”.
The investigative journalist was trying to track down the perpetrators of a mob attack on protesters and commuters inside a train station during the massive anti-government protests in 2019 because of her documentary.
Choi was fined HK$6,000 (US$765) for the two counts of making false statements at the time and called it “a very dark day for all journalists in Hong Kong.” This ruling also sparked outrage among local journalists due to the city’s diminished press freedom.
On Monday, city supreme court judges unanimously ruled in Choi’s favor in a written ruling, overturning her conviction and annulling the sentence.
“The cases of falsehood and knowledge were wrongly decided against the appellant because her journalistic investigation into the use of the vehicle on the dates in question fell within an umbrella category of other traffic and transportation matters,” the ruling read.
Even if this was not the case, the referee added, it was “not an irresistible conclusion that she knew it was not true”.
Choi’s co-produced story “7.21 Who Owns the Truth” won the Chinese-language Documentary Award at the Human Rights Journalism Awards in 2021. The jury hailed it as a “classic investigative reporting” that chased down “the tiniest of clues, questioning the powerful without fear or favour.”
In the crackdown on dissent that followed the 2019 protests, two audio media outlets — Apple Daily and Stand News — were forced to close and some of their top managers were prosecuted.
Founder of Apple Daily Jimmy Lay He faces charges of complicity under the sweeping national security law enacted in 2020. Two former editors of Stand News have been charged under a colonial-era sedition law that has been increasingly used to stifle critical voices.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1997, but critics say Beijing’s pledge that it will preserve the city’s freedoms has become increasingly tenuous.
Hong Kong was ranked 140th out of 180 countries and regions in Reporters Without Borders’ latest report Freedom of the world press The index was released last month. The global media watchdog said the city has experienced an unprecedented setback since 2020, when the security law was introduced. (AP)
Bao Choi He was convicted in April 2021 of deceiving the government by obtaining vehicle ownership records for journalistic purposes after declaring in her online application that it would use the information for “other traffic and transportation matters”.
The investigative journalist was trying to track down the perpetrators of a mob attack on protesters and commuters inside a train station during the massive anti-government protests in 2019 because of her documentary.
Choi was fined HK$6,000 (US$765) for the two counts of making false statements at the time and called it “a very dark day for all journalists in Hong Kong.” This ruling also sparked outrage among local journalists due to the city’s diminished press freedom.
On Monday, city supreme court judges unanimously ruled in Choi’s favor in a written ruling, overturning her conviction and annulling the sentence.
“The cases of falsehood and knowledge were wrongly decided against the appellant because her journalistic investigation into the use of the vehicle on the dates in question fell within an umbrella category of other traffic and transportation matters,” the ruling read.
Even if this was not the case, the referee added, it was “not an irresistible conclusion that she knew it was not true”.
Choi’s co-produced story “7.21 Who Owns the Truth” won the Chinese-language Documentary Award at the Human Rights Journalism Awards in 2021. The jury hailed it as a “classic investigative reporting” that chased down “the tiniest of clues, questioning the powerful without fear or favour.”
In the crackdown on dissent that followed the 2019 protests, two audio media outlets — Apple Daily and Stand News — were forced to close and some of their top managers were prosecuted.
Founder of Apple Daily Jimmy Lay He faces charges of complicity under the sweeping national security law enacted in 2020. Two former editors of Stand News have been charged under a colonial-era sedition law that has been increasingly used to stifle critical voices.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1997, but critics say Beijing’s pledge that it will preserve the city’s freedoms has become increasingly tenuous.
Hong Kong was ranked 140th out of 180 countries and regions in Reporters Without Borders’ latest report Freedom of the world press The index was released last month. The global media watchdog said the city has experienced an unprecedented setback since 2020, when the security law was introduced. (AP)
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