The pinnacle of Hong Kong’s journalists’ union has been charged with obstructing a police officer in the middle of their responsibility, amid an ongoing crackdown on critics of the federal government below the nationwide safety regulation.
“I simply obtained a name from the police asking me to go to the Mong Kok Police Station at present for them to formally file a case in opposition to me,” Ronson Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists’ Affiliation (HKJA) introduced by way of his Fb web page on Monday.
Chan arrived on the police station at 3.30 p.m. native time and left after half an hour, after being formally charged with “obstructing official duties.”
He’ll seem at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court docket on Sept. 22.
Chan, former deputy project editor at now-defunct pro-democracy information outlet Stand Information, was re-elected as HKJA chairman in June.
He has continuously spoken out in opposition to ever-diminishing press freedom within the metropolis.
He had been planning to check journalism on a scholarship on the Reuters Institute at Oxford College, and had been scheduled to depart Hong Kong on the finish of September.
It’s unclear whether or not Chan will now be allowed to depart to take up the scholarship as deliberate.
Chan informed reporters outdoors the police station he can be searching for authorized recommendation on the matter.
“I want to hunt authorized recommendation on how to do this,” he mentioned. “[The police] additionally requested me if I would depart the nation on the final minute.”
“I informed him I used to be planning to spend six months [overseas] and he mentioned he would inform the court docket,” Chan mentioned. “It was odd that he requested my out of the blue like that, as I used to be ready for them to course of my bail.”
Measure of declining press freedom
Chan mentioned his arrest, which was criticized by town’s Overseas Correspondents’ Membership on the time, was indicative of the present state of press freedom within the metropolis.
“I’ve heard lots of issues since my arrest, however I’ve not been in a position to confirm them, so I will not point out them now,” Chan mentioned. “It will be ridiculous if I had been unable to go to the U.Okay. due to this.”
“I believe it is plain to see the setting Hong Kong journalists are working in from this incident.”
The FCC mentioned on the time of Chan’s arrest that it “helps journalists’ proper to cowl tales with out worry of harassment or arrest.”
The assertion gained a rebuke from China’s international ministry, which mentioned it constituted “interference with the rule of regulation” in Hong Kong, and that there was no such factor as absolute press freedom.
The HKJA mentioned Chan was arrested after officers claimed he didn’t adjust to an ID test whereas at a venue as a part of a journalistic project.
“Simply as Ronson Chan was about to indicate his ID to one of many feminine law enforcement officials, one other plainclothes officer stepped ahead and yelled at him to ‘cooperate’,” the HKJA mentioned in a press release on the time.
“Chan requested the policeman to indicate his warrant card and requested the officer to verify his full identify and division, as he might solely see the surname Tan,” the assertion mentioned.
“However the officer instantly issued a warning, and, inside a couple of minutes, had Chan in handcuffs below arrest, en route again to Mong Kok police station.”
Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
