Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) said that one of its representatives arrived in Hong Kong on April 10 and was detained at the Airport for six hours, being searched and interrogated, before being deported. The organization said this latest action by the Hong Kong authorities, unprecedented for them, marked a new decline in the already poor press freedom climate in the territory. The Hong Kong Journalists Association stated concern about the incident on April 11, urging the government to explain the reasons for denying entry to a member of the organization.
The RSF said that its Taipei-based Advocacy Officer, Aleksandra Bielakowska, was refused entry yesterday and quoted her as saying that the Hong Kong authorities repeatedly searched her and her belongings and finally deported her under a nebulous pretext. She believes this shows “how much the Hong Kong authorities fear NGO workers and human rights defenders who seek to report on the authoritarian climate that has taken hold in the territory that was once a bastion of press freedom.” The organization said her task was to monitor a hearing in the trial of Jimmy Lai, founder of Next Media, on charges of contravening the National Security Law (NSL).
