Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Thursday slammed the remarks on independent media Stand News made by some Western government officials including one by US State Secretary Anthony Blinken.
On Wednesday, seven current or former senior staff members of the Hong Kong online media company were arrested on suspicion of breaching the colonial-era Crimes Ordinance by conspiring to publish seditious publications.
"They don't know Hong Kong laws and are trampling on the rule of law," Lam was quoted as saying by Global Times.
The case of Stand News has nothing to do with press freedom, and US-led Western slander of the matter exposes their double standards, the Chinese state media report added.
Expressing concern over the closure of the media outlet, the US on Wednesday called on authorities to release all those unjustly detained.
"The Hong Kong government's Wednesday raid and arrest of seven senior staff at Stand News have forced yet another of the few remaining bastions of free and independent media in Hong Kong to cease operations. Journalism is not sedition," Blinken said in a statement.
"We call on People's Republic of China (PRC) and Hong Kong authorities to cease targeting Hong Kong's free and independent media and to immediately release those journalists and media executives who have been unjustly detained and charged," he added.
Reacting to the development, Paris-based NGO Reporters Without Borders said that Hong Kong Chief Executive is terminating press freedom in the territory and called on authorities to release all journalists detained.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in a statement drew a parallel between raids on Stand News and crackdown early this year on pro-democracy Apple Daily.
"Exactly six months after the dismantling of the Next Digital group and its flagship newspaper Apple Daily, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam once again shows her determination to terminate press freedom in the territory by eliminating Stand News in a similar fashion", said Cedric Alviani, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) East Asia bureau head.
( With inputs from ANI )
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