Following is the remarks by the Under Secretary for Security, Mr Michael Cheuk, at a media session after the Fight Crime Committee meeting at the Central Government Offices this afternoon (September 13):
Reporter: Firstly, following up again on the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), is the Security Bureau aware of the reports of harassment and doxxing reported by the HKJA today? Can you provide any details, perhaps the state of these cases, whether they are being investigated or not? Second, will the Bureau itself take any action to assist the HKJA as there is concern that this incident would affect the perception of press freedom in Hong Kong? Lastly, again following up on the potential leakage of the Government database, there are some concerns from the HKJA that there was leakage in Government databases as three individuals received threatening messages after they were searched by the Customs. Does the Government have any comment on that?
Under Secretary for Security: First of all, I was just attending the meeting so I am not aware of it. I am not quite sure whether my fellow officers in the Security Bureau are aware of it, so at the moment I could not give you a definite answer. But in any event, Hong Kong is a place of rule of law. We condemn all sorts of actions that should be outlawed. Any individual should be free from threats, free from fear and free from harassment. If any individual, irrespective of who you are, if you are receiving such threat or harassment, please come out and report. As to the allegation by the HKJA about the leakage of data from Government database, first of all, I don't think there is any basis for that allegation. At the moment, we have not received any information that the database of any individual department is being compromised. As for freedom of the press, I would say that Hong Kong already has freedom of the press and we already enjoy freedom of the press. Anyone's freedom, not just about freedom of the press, but free from fear, freedom of expression, whatsoever, those rights should be respected and should not be compromised. If any of these individuals consider themselves under threat or being harassed, please come forward to report to us. We will take action accordingly.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
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