Liberals called on to act as Canadian arrested in crackdown on Hong Kong pro-democracy media outlet

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Canada must demand the release of a Canadian detained in Hong Kong, experts say, after national security police raided Stand News, the most prominent pro-democracy outlet left in the city following a crackdown on dissent.

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Pro-democracy activist and Canadian citizen Denise Ho was arrested alongside six other former and current editors and board members of Stand News on charges of conspiracy to publish seditious publications.

“This is nothing else but a criminalization of freedom of expression by the Beijing-controlled Hong Kong authorities and nothing else but a criminalization of media freedom,” said former cabinet minister Irwin Cotler.

Canada has a “special role and responsibility” to act in this case, said Cotler, a long-time human rights advocate.

Former diplomat Charles Burton said “Canada has to stand up for our citizen and suggest that she has been arrested arbitrarily, without justification, and demand her release.”

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Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said on Twitter late Wednesday afternoon that Canada’s “consular officials are engaged and stand ready to provide assistance on the ground.” She said Canada was “deeply concerned” by the arrests.

“Freedom of media and expression remain cornerstones of democracy and essential to the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” Joly wrote. “We will continue to speak out and denounce violations of these freedoms, in partnership with our international allies.”

The arrests clearly violate the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, under which civil liberties would be maintained in Hong Kong for 50 years following its 1997 handover to China, experts said. But China has been systematically cracking down on democracy in Hong Kong, shutting down independent news outlets and arresting activists. Such attacks on dissent were made easier under a national security law imposed imposed by Beijing in June 2020.

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Police said 200 officers searched the Stand News office and three men and four women, aged 34-73, were arrested on suspicion of “conspiracy to publish seditious publications.”

Police did not identify them but media said four former members of the Stand News board were arrested — Ho, former democratic legislator Margaret Ng, Chow Tat-chi and Christine Fang — as well as former chief editor Chung Pui-kuen and acting chief editor Patrick Lam.

Germany and the United Nations Human Rights Office were among those who criticized the arrests Wednesday.

“We are witnessing an extremely rapid closing of the civic space and outlets for Hong Kong’s civil society to speak and express themselves freely,” the UN rights office said.

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Steve Li, head of the police national security department, told reporters Stand News had allegedly published news and commentary inciting hatred against authorities.

Li said police seized assets worth HK$61 million (US$7.82 million) as well as computers, phones and journalistic materials, and that he did not rule out further arrests.

“We are not targeting reporters. We are targeting national security offences,” Li said.

Kim Nossal, a professor emeritus at Queen’s University, said Canada should focus on expressing its ongoing concern about the attacks on freedom of the press and the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy.

“This absolutely does not come out of thin air,” he said. “The fact is that over the last couple of years, the Hong Kong government has moved to implement the national security law, in a sense, in the most draconian fashion. And this is just simply yet another step.”

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Ho grew up in Canada and then became a pop star and actress, moving into political activism with the pro-democracy Umbrella movement in Hong Kong. In 2019 she spoke out at the United Nations against China’s infringements on rights and freedoms in Hong Kong. She has also been an activist for LGBTQ rights after coming out as gay in 2012, and against “considerable social disapproval,” Burton noted.

“She was previously very popular in mainland China and then was barred from performing there because of her political activism,” he said. “She really has been prepared to put her career on the line to support the principles that she believes in.”

China is likely to oppose any pressure by Canada for consular access to Ho. “As far as they are concerned she is a Chinese/Hong Kong citizen and not Canadian,” said Carleton University professor Fen Hampson.

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Any protest or speaking out that Canada does about her arrest would be stronger if “it can get other countries to condemn the actions of Chinese authorities and also call for her immediate release.”

Burton pointed out that China has refused consular access for Huseyin Celil, a Canadian citizen and Uyghur activist who has been held in China for 15 years.

Ho’s arrest dates back to her speaking out at the UN in 2019, a speech that was covered internationally after China interrupted her remarks. Cotler said the president of the UN Human Rights Council should condemn the arrest, which constitutes “almost a form of illegal reprisal for her testimony.”

Cotler said Canada should also join in a call for an urgent special session of the UN Human Rights Council to establish a commission into the assault on human rights and democracy in Hong Kong.

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Conservative Senator Leo Housakos wrote to Global Affairs Canada Wednesday to ask what they’re doing about Ho’s arrest. He said in an interview it’s “completely disturbing” to see “another Canadian citizen being illegally detained on baseless accusations.” Ho’s arrest comes three months after two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, were released after being imprisoned in China for three years in retaliation for the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

The Liberal government should do more in response than just issue statements about the importance of media freedom, Housakos said.

“It’s easy to talk about journalistic freedom in western democracies, but the true test is defending it when it’s under threat, like it is today in Hong Kong.”