Press union urges police to handle all cases with ‘equal efficiency’ after same-day arrest over threats to pro-gov’t outlet

Hong Kong’s biggest press union has welcomed the police’s swift response after a local newspaper received a threatening letter, urging authorities to handle similar cases at other outlets with “equal efficiency.”

Police apprehended a suspect just hours after the editorial team of Sing Tao Probe, a consumer advocacy platform under the pro-Beijing Sing Tao News Corporation, received a threatening letter containing an unidentified white powder on Monday.

The letter expressed discontent over an unpublished consumer complaint about a boardgame parlour that the suspect submitted a year ago. He also accused several media outlets of “falsely accusing” him of stalking and secretly photographing women late at night.

The suspect, a 24-year-old local man, remains in police custody.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) condemned the incident, which it said threatened press freedom in Hong Kong.

“The Association welcomes the police’s swift action in arresting the male suspect on the same day,” the HKJA said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We hope the police will handle other cases threatening press freedom with equal efficiency, thereby upholding the reputation of being Asia’s finest police force, as the authorities claim to reinforce.”

Multiple cases unsolved

In the past several years, the HKJA has publicised several other incidents of reporters being threatened and harassed.

In September 2024, the press group said during a press conference that dozens of journalists from at least 13 media outlets in Hong Kong had received emails and letters with defamatory content sent to their home addresses, workplaces, and other locations.

Journalists targeted included staff from Hong Kong Free Press, InMedia, HK Feature, as well as members of the HKJA executive committee.

The HKJA has reported these cases to the police, but no progress has yet been made, the press union said in the statement on Tuesday.

“Multiple cases involving threats against press freedom remain unsolved,” the HKJA said.

Hong Kong has plummeted in international press freedom indices since the onset of the 2020 and 2024 security laws. Watchdogs cite the arrest and jailing of journalists, raids on newsrooms and the closure of around 10 media outlets including Apple Daily, Stand News and Citizen News. Over 1,000 journalists have lost their jobs, whilst many have emigrated. Meanwhile, the city’s government-funded broadcaster RTHK has adopted new editorial guidelines, purged its archives and axed news and satirical shows.

See also: Explainer: Hong Kong’s press freedom under the national security law

In 2022, Chief Executive John Lee said press freedom was “in the pocket” of Hongkongers but “nobody is above the law.” Although he has told the press to “tell a good Hong Kong story,” government departments have been reluctant to respond to story pitches.

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Irene Chan is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press and has an interest in covering political and social change. She previously worked at Initium Media as chief editor for Hong Kong news and was a community organiser at the Society for Community Organisation serving the underprivileged. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Fudan University and a master’s degree in social work from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Irene is the recipient of two Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) awards and three honourable mentions for her investigative, feature and video reporting. She also received a Human Rights Press Award for multimedia reporting and an honourable mention for feature writing.