Apple Daily stated Monday that his board of the Hong Kong pro-democrats will conclude its publication during its forthcoming meeting on Friday, following an asset freeze from authorities utilizing new national safety legislation that left outspoken media unpaid.
Apple Daily has been a thorn in Beijing for years, supporting an undisputed pro-democracy movement in the City, and criticizing Chinese leaders for authoritarianism.
His proprietor Jimmy Lai, after his imposition last year, was one of the first to be tried in the security law.
Last week, its Chief Publisher and CEO were arrested and its finances were frozen under the law, which Beijing utilized to stem the foreign economic hub's disagreement.
The remaining Board of Apple Daily met on Monday to talk about the future of the paper.
The publication told the readers in the short push message, "The Board... agreed to meet again Friday to consider whether to end Apple Daily."
Rivals Now TV and Oriental Daily both reported, citing sources, that the board of Apple Daily agreed to close the paper, with the final date of publication due on Friday for the following meeting to be published.
The shutdown of the paper would shut down one of the few local newspapers that are ready to criticize Chinese authoritarian leaders.
It would also be a significant success for those authorities who had not secretly suppressed the channel.
Locked stories
In a conversation with CNN, a top assistant to Lai indicated that the municipal security chief's freeze-order last week paralyzed journalism's commercial capabilities.
"We don't have finances for our issue at Apple Daily, we have 50 million dollars in the bank," he stated.
"The security secretary is our problem and the police won't allow us to pay our journalists, they won't let us pay our workers and they won't let us pay our sellers." They have our accounts locked up."
Lai, 73, is in jail for taking part in rallies against democracy in 2019. He is sentenced to life imprisonment for acts against national security.
Over 500 police officials stormed the news and arrested a number of articles last Thursday calling for international penalties, articulating five CEOs.
Two of the leaders – editor-in-chief of Ryan Law and CEO Cheung Kim-hung – were charged with "contaminating" China's national security forces with foreign troops and detained during the weekend. They were detained.
The first time that the operation triggered security law was political opinions expressed by a media outlet in Hong Kong.
Crisis security
The law was enforced last June in Beijing and permits authorities to freeze the assets of any individual or corporation that are considered a security threat in the international economic hub.
No judicial order is necessary.
The personal assets and media shares of Lai in Hong Kong were frozen last month.
On Thursday, Security Secretary John Lee announced that more Apple Daily assets of HK$ 18 million (US$ 2.3 million) had been banned.
"These are all instructions from the Secretary of Security basically, we have a security agency, we don't have to face courts," Simon said to CNN.
Simon himself was wanted on national security charges by the Hong Kong police, but left the city last year and then moved to the United States.
Apple Daily has told Lee that it plans to freeze some money so that 700 employees can pay for it. The tabloid stated it intended to go to court if the application is unsuccessful.
In response to a continuing legal case, the Hong Kong Security Bureau declined to comment on whether it was approached by Apple Daily.
"There is a very severe crime endangering national security," a spokesman told AFP.
"We deal with such crimes within the law, target illegal conduct and exercise the right to freeze properties associated with offenses depending on needs and legislation."
