Magazine publisher Wang Jianmin, 62, was sentenced to five years and three months and editor Guo Zhongxiao, 40, was given two years and three months, reports the South China Morning Post.
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Wang and Guo, who have been imprisoned since May 2014, said they would not appeal, the U.S.-government-funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia reported.
Wang was jailed for five years and three months, while Guo was jailed for two years and three months and is expected to be released soon for time served. They later confessed to running an “illegal book selling operation” on the mainland. But Hong Kong’s once-vibrant publishing industry is increasingly under pressure.
“With the conviction of the two Hong Kong journalists, it seems that the Chinese government… continues on a path of suppressing and intimidating critics outside of mainland China, to say nothing of its detractors inside of China”, Yaqiu Wang, a spokesman with the New York-based-Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement to Al Jazeera.
One of the five is still detained and another, who skipped bail and returned to Hong Kong, has revealed how he was blindfolded and interrogated for months during his detention.
“Chinese authorities apparently are not content with tightly controlling information on the mainland-they are trying to restrict what is published in Hong Kong”, said CPJ Deputy Executive Director Rob Mahoney.
The associations questioned what the standard was for certain publications being banned on the mainland, as many Hong Kong publications that have not been registered in China can still be circulated, some even through Chinese official channels. Both pleaded guilty in the Shenzhen Nanshan District People’s Court past year. Hong Kong Journalists Association chairwoman Sham Yee-lan has also denounced the verdict, calling it a “blow to the freedom of speech”.
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Pokemon Go launched on Monday in Hong Kong and it was found that the citizens are more glued to their phones than ever, in search of the cyber monsters in locations different locations. China does not recognize dual nationality.
