Hong Kong police slap sedition charge on 2 from pro-democracy news outlet

Hong Kong: Hong Kong police on Thursday formally charged two people from an online pro-democracy news outlet with sedition, a day after the outlet said it would cease operations following a police raid on its office and seven arrests.

National security police said in a statement they had charged two men, aged 34 and 52, with one count each of conspiracy to publish a seditious publication but did not identify the men.

According to local media reports, the two charged are Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, who were editors at Stand News.

The police also said they would prosecute the company for sedition.

Chung and Lam were being brought to West Kowloon Court on Thursday, where the case against them will be mentioned.

The other arrestees are being detained for further questioning. Apart from Chung and Lam, four other former Stand News board members, including singer Denise Ho and former lawmaker Margaret Ng, were arrested on Wednesday.

Chan Pui-man, a former editor at the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper and Chung's wife, was also arrested.