{
  "title": "Search: licensing and closure of outlets in Hong Kong, outcome sustained",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/search?country=HK&tactic=outlet_licensing&outcome=sustained",
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    "tactic": "outlet_licensing",
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  "count": 2,
  "page": 1,
  "pages": 1,
  "per_page": 50,
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "facets": {
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      {
        "value": "HK",
        "label": "Hong Kong",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 140,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 140th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
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    "continent": [
      {
        "value": "asia",
        "label": "Asia"
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      {
        "value": "outlet_licensing",
        "label": "Licensing and closure of outlets",
        "count": 2
      },
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      {
        "value": "eliminate",
        "label": "Eliminate",
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    ],
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        "label": "National",
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      }
    ],
    "outcome": [
      {
        "value": "sustained",
        "label": "Sustained",
        "count": 2
      }
    ],
    "leader": [
      {
        "value": "carrie-lam",
        "label": "Carrie Lam"
      },
      {
        "value": "john-lee",
        "label": "John Lee"
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    "era": [
      {
        "value": "2020s",
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        "count": 2
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        "value": "2021",
        "label": "2021",
        "count": 1
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      {
        "value": "2025",
        "label": "2025",
        "count": 1
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    {
      "slug": "2025-hong-kong-convicts-jimmy-lai-under-national-security-law",
      "title": "China (Hong Kong): conviction and 20-year sentence of the media owner Jimmy Lai under the National Security Law, 2025 to 2026",
      "occurred_on": "2025-12-15",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "HK",
      "country_name": "Hong Kong",
      "continent": "asia",
      "jurisdiction": "HK",
      "level": "state_or_province",
      "tactic_primary": "detention_and_violence",
      "tactics": [
        "detention_and_violence",
        "outlet_licensing",
        "secrets_and_espionage_laws"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "john-lee",
      "leader_name": "John Lee",
      "issue_of_the_day": null,
      "outcome": "sustained",
      "outcome_on": "2026-02-08",
      "outcome_note": "Sentenced to 20 years in prison on 2026-02-08; no appeal is recorded in the sources cited.",
      "stage": "eliminate",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 140,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 140th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "On December 15, 2025, the High Court of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China with its own courts, convicted Jimmy Lai, founder of the newspaper Apple Daily, on two counts of \"conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces\" under the National Security Law, which China's central government imposed on Hong Kong in 2020, and one count of \"conspiracy to publish seditious publications.\" On February 8, 2026, the court sentenced Lai to 20 years in prison. Apple Daily shut down in June 2021 after its accounts were frozen and much of its top leadership was arrested. Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organization, called the charges \"bogus.\"",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-hong-kong-convicts-jimmy-lai-under-national-security-law"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2021-hong-kong-apple-daily-forced-closure",
      "title": "China (Hong Kong): Apple Daily closes after its assets are frozen under the national security law",
      "occurred_on": "2021-06-24",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "HK",
      "country_name": "Hong Kong",
      "continent": "asia",
      "jurisdiction": "HK",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "outlet_licensing",
      "tactics": [
        "outlet_licensing"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "carrie-lam",
      "leader_name": "Carrie Lam",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The closure followed Hong Kong's 2019 to 2020 pro-democracy protests and Beijing's imposition of a national security law on the territory in June 2020, which criminalized broadly defined acts of subversion and collusion with foreign forces.",
      "outcome": "sustained",
      "outcome_on": "2021-06-24",
      "outcome_note": "Apple Daily did not resume publication and its former executives faced additional charges as of the December 2021 report reviewed.",
      "stage": "silence",
      "ladder_note": "A newspaper's assets were frozen and its senior editors charged with offenses carrying up to life imprisonment, ending publication entirely rather than a licensing dispute or fine.",
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 140,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 140th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Apple Daily, Hong Kong's largest pro-democracy newspaper, printed its final edition after the government froze its parent company's assets and arrested its editors under the national security law imposed on the territory in 2020.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2021-hong-kong-apple-daily-forced-closure"
    }
  ],
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  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}