The decline of free speech in Hong Kong is once again under scrutiny ahead of the sentencing of former editors of local media outlet Stand News, which was often critical of the government. Human Rights Watch has also been reporting on dwindling academic freedoms at Hong Kong's universities.
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00:00Free speech is once again under scrutiny in Hong Kong ahead of the sentencing of two journalists.
00:06A court is expected to sentence ex-editors of pro-democracy media outlet Stan News for
00:12sedition on Thursday afternoon.
00:15It's the first trial of its kind in the territory.
00:18Beijing has cracked down on freedom in the former British colony over the last few years,
00:23following large-scale pro-democracy protests.
00:26The sentencing comes as human rights groups flag a sharp fall in press and academic freedoms
00:32in Hong Kong.
00:35Human Rights Watch has been investigating the state of academic freedom in Hong Kong,
00:39and in a recent report, the group outlines the sharp decline in the rights at the city's
00:44eight public universities.
00:46Hong Kong's government has hit back at the report, saying it is full of malicious smears.
00:52Our reporter Rick Lowert spoke to Daniela Gavshon of Human Rights Watch.
00:58Can you describe what sort of change is taking place in Hong Kong universities at the moment?
01:03There's been a dramatic change over a period of time.
01:07We know that Hong Kong's universities used to be places where free speech and expression
01:11were protected as part of liberal education traditions, certainly during British colonial
01:16rule.
01:17And now we see students and academics and administrators, especially those from Hong
01:21Kong, studying contemporary socio-political issues, who feel like they're living under
01:27a microscope, essentially.
01:29They think they have to tread carefully, they're concerned that any misstep in anything they
01:33say, their research, their rights, teach, publish, who they partner with could lead
01:37them into a really precarious situation where they get into serious trouble, and it could
01:41have repercussions that could even land them in prison for years.
01:45And the crackdown on freedom in academia is, of course, going on alongside other crackdowns
01:50in Hong Kong, particularly on the media and journalists.
01:54What sort of atmosphere is this creating in the city?
01:57Look, people are afraid, and people are rightfully afraid, because what you've seen from the
02:02Chinese government and from Hong Kong officials is that free speech and those things that
02:08were held for so long, those democratic freedoms, are no longer.
02:13We see politically motivated convictions.
02:15We see convictions for using fundamental free speech rights, and we've seen that with the
02:23universities, but as you say, also in press freedom and democratic institutions and processes
02:29that have been utterly quashed.
02:32And so I think that what happens is not only do you see people at personal risk from prosecutions
02:37and lack of fair trials and all the things that come with prosecutions now in Hong Kong,
02:43but what you also see is people self-censoring.
02:45And what does dwindling free speech mean for both the people in Hong Kong and for the rest
02:49of the world?
02:50Look, I think it shows the utter contempt that Hong Kong and Chinese authorities have
02:54for democratic processes.
02:56And I think they do want to send a clear message, and they want to send a clear message.
03:04It's a real turning point for Hong Kong, and I think the main thing to remember is that
03:07democracy is not a crime, regardless of what the Chinese government and Hong Kong officials
03:12might say.
03:13It is not a crime, and freedom of expression is a fundamental human right.
03:17And so really what we've lost is, without the democratic freedom in Hong Kong and without
03:23the media freedom in Hong Kong, we've really lost the essential window into Hong Kong.
03:29But also in the past, it's been the essential window for the world into China, which we
03:33have lost by not having these fundamental freedoms protected in Hong Kong.