Apple Daily editorial writer Fung Wai-kong was reportedly arrested at the Hong Kong airport on Sunday night on suspicion of “foreign collusion to endanger national security” while attempting to leave the city. This makes Fung the second editorial writer affiliated with Apple Daily to be arrested in the past several days, in addition to the several editors and executives who have been arrested. PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said the following:
“The arrest of a writer for his or her words is a hallmark of authoritarianism. Not content to have jailed its founder and shut the newspaper down, Hong Kong’s police snatched Fung Wai-kong from the airport amidst his effort to escape to safety. With every new arrest under the National Security Law, Hong Kong’s authorities elevate Beijing’s repressive dictates over respect for human rights and observance of Hong Kong’s Basic Law, which guarantees the very freedoms that are now being trampled.”