A Hong Kong court ordered the top editor of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and the head of its parent company held without bail Saturday in the first hearing since their arrest two days ago under the city's national security law. Ryan Law, the chief editor, and Cheung Kim-hung, the CEO of Next Digital, have been charged with collusion with a foreign country to endanger national security in a case widely seen as an attack on press freedom in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, per the AP. Chief Magistrate Victor So said there was not sufficient grounds to believe they would not violate the security law again and ordered them held at the Lai Chi Kok detention center. He set the next hearing for Aug. 13. Law and Cheung arrived at the court in a van with covered windows. A handful of activists held up a banner and copies of the Apple Daily outside.
Three others also arrested Thursday—two Apple Daily senior editors and another executive—have not been charged yet and were released on bail late Friday pending further investigation. The Apple Daily has long been one of the most outspoken defenders of civil liberties in Hong Kong. It supported massive protests demanding more democracy in 2019 and has criticized the subsequent crackdown, including the enactment of a national security law last year. The central government in Beijing has defended the legislation and the crackdown on opposition voices as necessary to restore order and stability. The 2019 protests that challenged Beijing's rule often started as peaceful marches during the day but turned into violent clashes between hard-core demonstrators and police at night.
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