New York, June 25, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Hong Kong authorities to immediately release journalist and bookseller Leticia Wong Man-huen who was arrested on suspicion of selling seditious publications and receiving funds from foreign political organizations.
“The arrest of a journalist and editor over items sold through an independent bookstore shows Hong Kong authorities are expanding national security laws ever deeper into the city’s publishing sector,” said CPJ Asia-Pacific Director Beh Lih Yi. “Authorities should immediately release Wong and stop treating publishing activities as threats to national security.”
On June 24, Hong Kong National Security Police arrested Wong, a journalist and the owner of Hunter Bookstore, as well as a 32-year-old man, according to multiple
news
reports
. Their arrests under the Beijing-imposed national security law come just days before the sixth anniversary of its enactment on June 30.
Police
said
on Thursday that the proprietors of a shop in Sham Shui Po had been arrested for displaying items with seditious intent and selling publications that incited hatred against the Hong Kong government, judiciary, and law enforcement agencies. They were also accused of violating Section 25 of the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance for receiving remittances funded by foreign political organizations.
Among the allegedly seditious items and books that police seized was a copy of “The Troublemaker,” a biography of former Apple Daily newspaper publisher
Jimmy Lai
who was
sentenced
to 20 years in prison in February 2026,
news
reports
said.
Wong, a former political reporter for local newspaper Sing Tao Daily, is the editor-in-chief of Status Quo, a magazine published by Hunter Bookstore that features interviews, essays, and reporting on Hong Kong society and culture. The 33-year-old has reported articles for the publication including an interview with singer and activist Denise Ho who was
arreste
