Hong Kong press group says dozens of journalists harassed

(This Sept. 13 story has been corrected to clarify that volunteer Wikipedia editors took action, not the Wikimedia Foundation, in paragraph 10)

By Jessie Pang

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Dozens of Hong Kong journalists and their families have been harassed and intimidated online and in person over the last three months starting from June, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) said on Friday.

HKJA chairperson Selina Cheng said the threats and sharing of false and defamatory content damage press freedom in Hong Kong and should not be tolerated.

"I think this is the largest scale harassment against reporters in Hong Kong that we have thus far known of," Cheng said. "We are making a loud call today to say that we do not accept such behaviour."

Under Secretary for Security Michael Cheuk told the media on Friday: "Hong Kong is a society governed by the rule of law, and no one should be intimidated, insulted, or so-called harassed".

He urged anyone who felt such pressure to report it to law enforcement agencies.

The targeted journalists, media companies and organizations include HKJA's executive committee and 13 media outlets including Hong Kong Free Press, Inmediahk, HK Feature, and two journalism education institutions, she said.

At least 15 journalists, their families and associates - including landlords, charities, schools and private businesses - have received anonymous complaints by email or letter from self-proclaimed "patriots", the HKJA said.

The alleged intimidation comes amid a years-long national security clampdown by authorities that followed mass pro-democracy protests in 2019. Critics say this erodes the agreement on Hong Kong's handover from Britain to China in 1997, which guaranteed a measure of autonomy for the city.

The HKJA said some journalists or their associates had been targeted in private Facebook groups. In at least four cases, trolls used Facebook and Wikipedia to make violent threats, including death threats, Cheng said.

A spokesperson for Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia, said in a reply to Reuters that it had issued a global ban on a user for violating its terms of use and that the volunteer editors who oversee content on Wikipedia removed the harmful content.

Hong Kong police said they would handle each reported case in accordance with the law.

Meta, owner of Facebook, did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Two editors were recently convicted of sedition, the first for sedition against any journalist or editor since 1997.

HKJA said it had identified an abusive user and reported its findings to the police and the Office Of The Privacy Commissioner For Personal Data (PCPD). The PCPD said it had received one complaint which it was dealing with.

Tom Grundy, director of Hong Kong Free Press, told Reuters his landlord and local property agencies were sent anonymous letters making "wild claims and threatening 'unimaginable consequences' and 'collateral damage'" unless he was evicted.

Inmedia told Reuters one of its employees had received harassment messages. HK Feature said it was "shocked by the varying degrees of harassment of our journalists and their relatives".

"We hope the public will take journalism work seriously and support our work, so that reporting can be free from fear," it said.

(Reporting by Jessie Pang; Editing by Kim Coghill, Angus MacSwan and Diane Craft)