The head of Hong Kong's leading journalist group was charged on Monday with obstructing police officers, a case seen by critics as a further blow to media freedoms in the Chinese-ruled city.
Ronson Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was detained on Sept. 7 by two plain clothes officers while he was out reporting a story.
Speaking to reporters on Monday after he was formally charged with obstructing police officers at a police station, Chan maintained he had acted within his rights by asking to see the officers' warrant cards."Not an easy environment," he said when asked whether media freedoms were deteriorating in Hong Kong.
Some Western governments have criticized the law as a tool of repression in Hong Kong, which was handed back to Chinese rule by Britain in 1997. Beijing and Hong Kong authorities say the law has brought stability after mass pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019. In April, Hong Kong's Foreign Correspondents' Club suspended its annual Human Rights Press Awards so as not to "unintentionally" violate any laws, in what was seen as another sign of eroding media freedoms in the Asian financial hub.
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