HONG KONG - Recent developments in Hong Kong including how the city has slipped down global freedom indexes and the trial of a media mogul- have again cast the spotlight on the issue of media freedom in the Chinese-ruled territory.
Hong Kong fell 17 places in a global freedom ranking released on Dec 19, the second-biggest drop among 165 territories assessed. Myanmar, which declined the most, fell 20 spots to 162nd place.
The Human Freedom Index 2023, collated by Canadian think-tank Fraser Institute and US think-tank Cato Institute, was published as hearings proceeded on the national security trial of tycoon Jimmy Lai, founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid, who has been charged with sedition and colluding with foreign forces.
The index, in which Hong Kong ranked 46th, described "notable deterioration in nearly every specific area of freedom" in the city, particularly in its freedom of expression, association and assembly ratings, which "reflects the Chinese Communist Party's increasing interference in Hong Kong".
The 2023 report, whose ratings are based on data from 2021, attributed the decline in those freedoms to Beijing's imposition of a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020.
The new law made it easier to prosecute crimes of secession and narrowed the scope of Hong Kong's autonomy.
But the authorities say that rather than suppressing freedoms, the law restored stability and closed loopholes that once allowed foreign forces to interfere in the territory, which in 2019 was rocked by prolonged and often violent anti-government protests.
Lai, 76, the most prominent person netted under the law, is accused of using Apple Daily and an anti-China lobbying campaign to urge international sanctions against Beijing and Hong Kong officials.
He has been behind bars since December 2020.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 28, 2023 من The Straits Times.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 28, 2023 من The Straits Times.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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