Ronson Chan, president of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), was arrested on September 7 for an altercation with two officers who demanded to see his ID while covering a residents’ meeting at a public housing estate. Police say Chan refused to identify himself and acted in an “uncooperative” manner despite multiple warnings. He was charged Monday with obstructing a police officer, an offense that carries up to two years in prison, and will appear in court Thursday. Speaking to reporters after he was formally charged, Chan maintained that he had acted within his rights by asking to see the officers’ warrant cards. “It’s not an easy environment,” he said, when asked if media freedoms were deteriorating in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Journalists Association is one of the last major professional groups in Hong Kong to stand up for fundamental media rights and freedoms, following the passage in June 2020 of the controversial National Security Law by the Chinese authorities. Authorities have used a national security law and colonial-era sedition charges to crack down on dissent in Hong Kong following pro-democracy protests three years ago. “I told them I don’t understand the charge … I didn’t obstruct any police officer,” Chan said outside the police station. Chan disputed the police account, saying he asked officers to explain why he had been searched and handcuffed before he could produce his card. He also accused the officers of threatening him on the way to the police station, saying they made comments such as “let’s see when you die”. Some Western governments have criticized the national security law as a tool of repression in Hong Kong, which was handed over to Chinese rule by Britain in 1997. Beijing and Hong Kong authorities say the law has brought stability after the 2019 protests. The HKJA is under pressure to disband from pro-Beijing media outlets that accuse it of being an anti-China organization with ties to overseas groups such as the National Endowment for Democracy – claims the HKJA has denied. In April, Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) suspended its annual Human Rights Press Awards to avoid “unintentionally” breaking laws, seen as yet another sign of eroding media freedoms in the Asian financial hub. Chan planned to leave Hong Kong at the end of September for the Reuters Institute’s six-month fellowship program at Oxford University. Local media critical of the government have faced a wave of police investigations and the city has plummeted in global press freedom rankings. Hong Kong fell 68 places to 148th in the annual press freedom index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) this year. Local tabloid Apple Daily and online news platform StandNews – where Chan worked – were forced to close last year after executives were accused of national security breaches, leaving hundreds of journalists out of a job. With Reuters and Agence France-Presse
