April 14, 2021, Hong Kong - Journalist and lawmaker Claudia Mo’s communication with foreign news outlets was cited as reason to deny her bail by legal authorities in Hong Kong. Claudia Mo’s property was seized in January 2021 and she remains in custody since February 2021 under Hong Kong’s National Security Law. 

Member of the pan-democracy camp, journalist and politician Claudia Mo has now spent four months in state custody over concocted charges such as  “conspiracy to commit subversion”. On April 14, The Hong Kong High Court cited her past interactions with credible news outlets such as Sky News, BBC, The Wall Street Journal among others as reason to deny her bail. The copy of criminal proceedings released by the Hong Kong judiciary cites her encrypted messages on messaging app Whatsapp to representatives of foriegn media outlets as “evidence” against her. The prosecution argued that Claudia had misled foreign media with regards to the loss of human rights in Hong Kong, and the coverage of her outspoken activism on national and international news media outlets threatens China’s “national security”.

Claudia was arrested at the beginning of the year. The police seized her computers and phones during the time of her arrest. Officials also seized the computers and phones of Claudia’s husband and co-founder of the news website Asia Sentinel, Philip Bowring, even though Bowring is not under any official investigation. Claudia was arrested alongside 46 other activists, who were accused of subverting the state under the controversial National Security Law. Since then only 11 activists involved in the case have been granted bail.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism grows increasingly concerned about the treatment of journalists in Hong Kong. These actions are a clear violation of civil liberties promised to the citizens of Hong Kong under the One Country, Two Systems principles. Communication with foreign press is a legal activity, and to deny bail on messages that remain encrypted is shockingly reprehensible. This is a case of the state targeting a critical voice. Claudia Mo must immediately be granted bail.