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This is an op-ed by Benedict Rogers, founder of rights group Hong Kong Watch and member of the advisory group of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) and an advisor to the World Uyghur Congress.

Four years ago today, June 24, the printing presses of Hong Kong’s largest and most successful mass-circulation Chinese language pro-democracy daily newspaper, the Apple Daily, fell silent and its newsroom shut its doors.

When the lights were switched off in the Tseung Kwan O building, they were turned off not only for the newspaper founded by media entrepreneur and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai, but for media freedom itself in Hong Kong.

Since the forced closure of Apple Daily, almost all other independent media in the city — particularly Stand News and Citizen News — have shut down.

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Meanwhile, dozen of rights groups released an open letter urging UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to meet the son of jailed British publisher Jimmy Lai.