Ronson Chan was reporting for Channel C HK. He was charged with obstructing police and public disorder. Since the passage of a security law two years ago, he fought for freedom of the press in the former British colony.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) – Police today arrested Ronson Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), the local largest journalist group.
According to the Hong Kong Free Press, the arrest took place at the Mong Kok stadium where the veteran journalist was reporting for Channel C HK, an online TV outlet, on a homeowners’ committee meeting.
After he was asked to show his identity papers, he was taken to a local police station and charged with obstructing police and public disorder.
Chan began his second term at the helm of the HKJA in June. He was supposed to travel to the United Kingdom in October for a six-month fellowship programme at Oxford University’s Reuters Institute.
He was held by the National Security Department in late December 2021 for questioning in connection with an investigation into Stand News, a news website where Chan had worked as deputy assignment editor, and then released.
After law enforcement raided its newsroom and arrested seven people linked to the outlet, the pro-democracy publication went out of business, suffering the same fate inflicted on the Apple Daily, an independent newspaper founded by Catholic media mogul Jimmy Lai, who has been in jail for nearly two years.
Since mainland China imposed national security legislation on Hong Kong in 2020, local newspapers and media groups have come under intense pressure from the authorities, as well as pro-establishment media and residents.
In addition to Stand News and Apple Daily, three other newspapers have closed with several journalists ending up behind bars.
Chan has always had a strong position on the issue, speaking out against the mass arrests of reporters and journalists, a trend that has marked the virtual demise of freedom of information in the former British colony, a charge the local government rejects.
Over the past year, Hong Kong has dropped from 80th to 148th place in Reporters Without Borders's Press Freedom Index.