The publisher and editor-in-chief of the pro-democracy Hong Kong newspaper The Apple Daily have been charged with conspiracy with foreign powers, the South China Morning Post reported.
On Thursday, the two were arrested along with three more high-ranking people at the newspaper, while the police searched the editorial office and seized at least 40 hard drives.
The other three detained employees have been released on bail, but they are still under investigation. Publisher Cheung Kim-hung and editor-in-chief Ryan Law are said to have violated the controversial national security law.
The editorial search was done because of 30 opinion pieces in the paper calling for foreign sanctions against China and Hong Kong. The newspaper’s owner, media tycoon Jimmy Lai, was already incarcerated. He wrote some of the articles.
The newspaper came out on Friday, even in an extra-large circulation. The most important article was about the raid on the office, carried out by about five hundred police officers.
The European Union and the United Kingdom have already said the raid is an attack on press freedom. The South China Morning Post fears that the raid will lead to self-censorship among media.