Hong Kong arrests two journalists in latest sedition case targeting independent bookstores

New York, July 16, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Hong Kong authorities to immediately release freelance journalists and booksellers Sum Wan-wah and Mandy Lau and end their escalating crackdown on independent publishing in the city, following the second such incident in less than a month.

On July 15, Hong Kong police said its National Security Department arrested two men and three women after raiding two bookstores in Mong Kok district. The five are suspected of violating the city’s Safeguarding National Security Ordinance and displaying items with “seditious intent” and selling publications with “seditious content.”

Among those arrested were Sum and Lau, who co-founded the Have a Nice Stay bookstore with three other journalists in 2022 after losing their jobs amid Hong Kong’s worsening press freedom climate, according to sources familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Have A Nice Stay’s owners include former reporters from the now-shuttered news outlet Stand News, according to Pulse HK News. One of the bookstore’s missions, its website says, is to promote journalism and literary reportage. In 2023, the bookstore also launched the online magazine Leave Blank to “reclaim the identity of being journalists.”

“Using national security legislation to go after another bookstore run by journalists is an attack on press freedom and independent publishing in the city,” said CPJ Asia-Pacific Director Beh Lih Yi. “Hong Kong authorities must release journalists Sum Wan-wah and Mandy Lau and stop persecuting independent publishers.”

Police have accused the five of selling and displaying publications that incited hatred against the Hong Kong government, the judiciary, and law enforcement agencies. Officers seized books during the operation and all five remain in detention pending investigation, police said.

Among the books with “seditious intention” intercepted by custom authorities were “Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping’s China,” by National Public Radio journalist Emily Feng, news outlet InMedia reported.  

Hong Kong authorities have targeted journalists, publishers, booksellers, and independent cultural institutions since Beijing imposed the National Security Law in 2020 and the city enacted its homegrown Article 23 legislation in 2024. 

CPJ has documented the steady erosion of press freedom in Hong Kong, where journalism and publishing activities are increasingly treated as national security offenses.

Last month, Hong Kong’s National Security Police arrested journalist and bookseller Leticia Wong Man-huen, owner of Hunter Bookstore, on suspicion of selling seditious publications and receiving funds from foreign political organizations under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law. She was later released on bail.

China consistently ranks as the world’s worst jailer of journalists, with at least 50 behind bars, according to CPJ’s latest research.

The Hong Kong government did not immediately respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.