Hong Kong justice minister accuses unnamed media outlets of ‘biased’ reporting on prosecutors’ appeals against protesters

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng said some reports had ignored prosecutors’ arguments for seeking tougher sentences for those convicted over 2019’s social unrest

While Cheng did not name any outlets, pro-Beijing media pointed the finger at Apple Daily, with one paper calling it ‘a poison-spreading machine’

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Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng (pictured) has accused unnamed media outlets of biased reporting on prosecutors’ appeals in protest-related cases. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 7:09pm, 6 Feb 2021Updated: 11:03pm, 6 Feb 2021

Hong Kong’s justice minister on Saturday hit back at unspecified media reports that she said were prejudiced in their characterisation of prosecutors’ recent efforts to secure tougher sentences for those convicted of crimes relating to 2019’s social unrest.

In a blog post, Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah accused the reports of “repeatedly [resorting] to biased language” when covering prosecutors’ appeals and sentencing reviews against protesters.

“Some media, without regard to the grounds put forward by the Department of Justice at the hearings and the reasons for the decisions set out in the courts’ judgments, used biased expressions that fail to reflect the facts in an objective manner,” she said.

“I don’t agree to this approach and have to stress that the [department] has all along strived to ensure the proper conduct of its prosecutions,” she added, insisting that prosecutors adhered to “the highest of professional standards”.

Last year, the justice department lodged 17 applications to review sentencing in cases involving protesters, she said. Out of the 12 that had been decided, the court ruled in favour of prosecutors in all but one.

The justice department has not responded to an inquiry from the Post regarding which news reports it was referring to, but pro-Beijing outlet Wen Wei Po pointed the finger at the tabloid-style paper Apple Daily’s coverage of a case heard at the Court of Appeal on Friday.