(Hong Kong) Denise Ho, the Canadian citizen who was arrested in a press raid in Hong Kong, was released by police on Thursday.
On social media, official accounts associated with the popular singer who grew up in Montreal indicate that she is “back home.”
“I’m a little tired right now, but I’m doing fine physically and mentally. Thank you for your love ”can we read on his Facebook page.
The post clarified that the singer and activist was still planning to take part in an online concert on Sunday.
“Even in the most difficult moments, the singers still have to sing until the last breath”, we can read in Cantonese.
Denise Ho had been taken away by the police for conspiring to publish a seditious publication. Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly on Twitter said on Wednesday that Canada is “deeply concerned about the arrest in Hong Kong of current and former Booth News board members and staff, including Canadian activist Denise. Ho ”.
Conservative MP Michael Chong said that “his arrest violates the Sino-British Treaty of 1984. We cannot condone Beijing’s violations of international law. ”
Denise Ho did her high school education at Collège Jean-de-la-Mennais in La Prairie, Montérégie, before studying at Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, in Montreal. She also undertook graphic design studies at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) before having a career in the pop scene in Hong Kong.
Denise Ho, known as the artist HOCC, is also a committed human rights activist.
In an article from New Yorker in 2019, she said, about one of her songs called Montreal, that the Quebec metropolis had taught him “how to be a person”.
“My values, my sense of independence, my principles, my penchant for rebellion, they all took root there.”
Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, two former editors of the pro-democracy website Stand News, in Hong Kong, which closed on Wednesday after the police search, were formally charged with sedition on Thursday and their provisional release has brought them down. been refused.
PHOTO VINCENT YU, AP
Patrick Lam was charged with sedition on Thursday and was refused provisional release.
Patrick Lam was not present at his appearance because he had to be taken to hospital.
During the police operation, a journalist and seven current and former editors and members of the media’s board of directors were also arrested, including Denise Ho.
The raid was orchestrated as part of an ongoing crackdown on dissent in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
The chief executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, defended the search, explaining that in a context of dissemination of information, incitement to challenge the established order could not be tolerated.
For his part, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called on the Hong Kong authorities to release those arrested.
Stand News said in a statement that its website and social media will no longer be updated and will be removed. The media outlet said all employees had been made redundant.
Stand News was one of the last openly critical voices in Hong Kong after the newspaper closed Apple Daily, which closed after its publisher, Jimmy Lai, and key editors were arrested and its assets frozen.
Police also arrested a seventh person on Wednesday, a former editor ofApple Daily.
More than 200 officers were involved in the search, police said. They had a warrant to seize relevant journalistic documents under a national security law enacted last year.
The seven people were arrested under a Crime Ordinance that dates back to when Hong Kong was a British colony before 1997 when it was returned to China. If these people are found guilty, they could face up to two years in prison and a fine of up to 5,000 Hong Kong dollars (CAN $ 820).
Early Wednesday, Stand News posted a video on Facebook of police officers at the home of deputy editor Ronson Chan. The one who is also president of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was taken for questioning, the organization confirmed in a statement.
Ronson Chan, who was later released, told media that police seized his electronics, bank cards and press card.
The arrests come as authorities crack down on dissent in the semi-autonomous Chinese city. Hong Kong police previously raided the offices of the old newspaper Apple Daily, seizing boxes of equipment and computer hard drives to aid them in their investigation and freezing millions of dollars, which subsequently forced the newspaper to cease operations.
Police charged Jimmy Lai on Tuesday with Apple Daily of sedition, he was already imprisoned on other charges.
“We are not targeting journalists, we are not targeting the media, we are just targeting national security offenses,” said Li Kwai-wah, chief superintendent of the national security police department. “If you’re just reporting, I don’t think that’s a problem. ”
He told a press conference that those arrested were held to account for their actions even if they had resigned from Stand News.
When asked what advice he had for the media, Li Kwai-wah replied, “Don’t be biased. You know how to report, how to be a responsible journalist, how to report impartially to your readers. That’s all I can tell you. ”
Earlier this year, Stand News announced that it would suspend subscriptions and remove most opinion pieces and columns from its website due to national security law. Six members of the board of directors also resigned from the company.
The Journalists Association urged the city government to protect press freedom in accordance with Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
“The Hong Kong Journalists Association is deeply concerned that police have repeatedly arrested senior media officials and searched news agency offices containing large amounts of journalistic material within the space of ‘one year,’ she said in a statement.
Benedict Rogers, co-founder and CEO of the non-governmental organization Hong Kong Watch, said the arrests were “nothing less than a total assault on press freedom in Hong Kong.”
“When a free press guaranteed by Hong Kong’s basic law is labeled ‘seditious’, it is a symbol of how quickly this once large and open international city has become little more than a police state,” he said. he declared.
Wednesday’s arrests also followed the removal of sculptures and other artwork from college campuses last week. The works supported democracy and commemorated the victims of the Chinese crackdown on Democratic protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.