By Jessie Pang

HONG KONG (Reuters] – A veteran journalist who was formerly a contributing writer to the now-defunct liberal media outlet Stand News was detained by Hong Kong’s National Security Police on Monday. The arrest was made for alleged acts of rebellion, according to local media and police.

A Chinese-imposed National Security Law has led to a clampdown on media. Several media outlets, such as the Apple (NASDAQ;) Daily newspaper, and Stand News, were closed by police as a result.

According to local police, a man aged 54 was arrested for conspiracy to publish seditious papers by the national security division of their police force and taken into police custody.

Local media identified the man as Allan Au. He was a journalist and scholar at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and wrote columns for publications like Ming Pao, and now the closed Apple Daily.

Reuters could not immediately get back to Au.

Beijing’s June 2020 national security law, which punishes terrorist, collusion, foreign forces, secession, and other offenses, does not include sedition.

Recent court rulings have allowed authorities to make use of the newly enacted legislation in order to apply rarely-used colonial laws regarding sedition.

Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam said that she wouldn’t comment on the individual cases but stated that press freedom is enshrined within the Basic Law, the city’s mini constitution.

Hong Kong Journalists’ Association expressed its deep concern at the arrest and warned that it could further harm Hong Kong’s press freedom.

Au was a Knight Fellow of Stanford University who is well-known for his critical writings.

Au once thought that I might be able to continue writing until 2047. But it was a delusion at the end,” he wrote in his final published column. He was referring to China’s promise to Hong Kong autonomy and freedoms for fifty years, from 2047 to 2047.

“We still haven’t reached 2047, but 2047 has arrived before our very eyes,” Au wrote.

Au’s arrest is the latest in a long line of journalists who were targeted by the security law. Stand News also had two former top editors charged in December for conspiring to print and/or reproduce seditious newspapers.