BREAKING: Independent book shop staff arrested over ‘seditious’ publications, Jimmy Lai title among books seized – reports

2026-03-24 - 14:13

Hong Kong independent bookseller Pong Yat-ming and three of his staff have reportedly been arrested on suspicion of selling seditious titles, including a biography of jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai. Hong Kong independent bookseller Pong Yat-ming appears in the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts on January 8, 2026, to plead not guilty to charges alleging that he ran an “unregistered school” at his Book Punch bookstore in Sham Shui Po. Photo: Hans Tse/HKFP. Local media reported on Tuesday evening that national security police arrested one man and three women for allegedly “knowingly selling a publication that has a seditious intention,” an offence under Hong Kong’s homegrown security law, the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, known locally as Article 23. See also: ‘Is it a coincidence?’ – Hong Kong independent bookstores, publishers face simultaneous tax probes The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, Hong Kong’s Greatest Dissident, and China’s Most Feared Critic, written by Mark Clifford. Citing anonymous sources, the reports said police also raided Pong’s Sham Shui Po bookstore, Book Punch, and seized seditious publications, including Lai’s 2024 biography, The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billionaire, Hong Kong’s Greatest Dissident, and China’s Most Feared Critic, written by Mark Clifford, a former director of Lai’s Next Digital media conglomerate. The offence carries a maximum penalty of seven years behind bars – 10 years if the offender is found to have colluded with an external force. In an emailed reply to HKFP’s enquiry on Tuesday, a police spokesperson said the force “will take actions according to actual circumstances and in accordance with the law.” ‘Unexpected incident’ The bookstore’s gate was closed when HKFP arrived at around 5pm, with a Chinese-language notice taped onto it reading: “Closed for one day due to an unexpected incident. Apologies for the inconvenience.” A sign reads “Closed for one day due to an unexpected incident. Apologies for the inconvenience,” at Book Punch in Sham Shui Po on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Later, at around 5.20pm, HKFP saw a woman wearing an apricot‐coloured top escorted from a black seven‐seater vehicle parked outside the building housing Book Punch. She was taken upstairs into the bookstore, accompanied by two men and a woman who were wearing what appeared to be police lanyards. See also: Amid exodus and societal shifts, Hong Kong’s independent bookstores offer freedom of thought, community A woman is escorted to Book Punch in Sham Shui Po on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Security law Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison last month for foreign collusion and sedition – the heaviest penalty meted out so far under the Beijing-imposed national security law. Separate from the 2020 Beijing-enacted security law, the homegrown Safeguarding National Security Ordinance targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, sedition, theft of state secrets and espionage. It allows for pre-charge detention of up to 16 days, and suspects’ access to lawyers may be restricted, with penalties involving up to life in prison. Article 23 was shelved in 2003 amid mass protests, remaining taboo for years. But, on March 23, 2024, it was enacted having been fast-tracked and unanimously approved at the city’s opposition-free legislature. The law has been criticised by rights NGOs, Western states and the UN as vague, broad and “regressive.” Authorities, however, cited perceived foreign interference and a constitutional duty to “close loopholes” after the 2019 protests and unrest.