Apple execs file court writ over police raids

Two Apple Daily executives arrested over alleged violations of the national security law are seeking court orders for the police to return journalistic or legally protected material seized during recent raids.

The writ was filed on Wednesday by the paper’s chief editor, Ryan Law, who has been charged with conspiring to collude with external forces, and a former head of animation news, Cheung Chi-wai, who is on police bail.

They are asking the High Court to decide whether items seized from the paper’s newsroom and their homes count as journalistic material, or information covered by legal professional privilege.

They also want the court to rule whether any of the items taken were not covered by the warrants obtained by the police.

If confiscated material does fall under any of the three categories, the pair want it to be returned, and are asking for compensation.

Earlier this month, the paper’s parent company, Next Digital, lost a similar court case over documents seized by the police during a raid last August, when Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai was charged with an alleged national security offence.

Meanwhile, sources said the pro-democracy paper’s editorial writer, Yeung Ching-kee, is to be released on bail, following his arrest on Wednesday.

Earlier, national security police said the 55-year-old had been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to collude with external forces to endanger national security.

Apple Daily reported in its final edition on Thursday that Yeung, who goes by the pen name Li Ping, joined the paper many years ago as a China desk journalist.

It said he later focused on writing editorials for the now-defunct publication.