2nd November 2026 – (Hong Kong) Former Apple Daily publisher Cheung Kim-hung has appeared unmasked as a rehabilitee on a Correctional Services Department mainland study trip, while it is understood he and two fellow Next Digital case accomplice witnesses have been freed ahead of their original release dates.
Cheung was jailed for six years and nine months in February after pleading guilty to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and serving as a prosecution witness, with a 55 per cent reduction from the starting point. He had been expected to finish his term only in March 2028. Phoenix Television yesterday showed him on the Shenzhen outing, named on camera, saying driverless vehicles left him excited and that as a Chinese person able to feel the country’s strength and technology progress he felt proud.
The same reports say Chan Tsz-wah, sentenced to six years and three months, and Li Yu-hin, known as Andy Li and jailed for seven years and three months — both also accomplice witnesses in the Apple Daily national-security case — have likewise been released early. Chan had been pencilled for freedom next year and Li for 2028. All three gave evidence for the prosecution in the related trial.
Separately, it is understood Tong Ying-kit, defendant in the first Hong Kong National Security Law case and sentenced to nine years after convictions for inciting others to secede and for terrorist activities, has also been freed. On 1st July 2020, he rode a motorcycle carrying a “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” flag into officers. This year, on a Security Bureau television programme, he said he had believed much false news and been misled; at a Correctional Services academy graduation two years ago he served as flag-bearer for the national flag.
Phoenix said the Correctional Services party visited East River Column wartime sites in Shenzhen and tried Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxi technology. Other outlets dated the day trip to 31st October. Asked whether Cheung, Li, Chan or Tong had been released early, the department told reporters it would not comment on individual cases, describing the exchange as a key part of its “Walking with Reason” programme of structured activities meant to strengthen rehabilitees’ national-security and law-abiding awareness.
After Article 23 legislation, the bar for early release of national-security prisoners was tightened: the Commissioner of Correctional Services must be satisfied that freeing someone early would not be contrary to national security. Sponsor of the tour, paper-craft master Ha Chung-kin, said the visit days earlier was meant to let people who had finished custody see mainland development. He called Cheung pleasant and knowledgeable, said the case itself was not discussed, and that raking up old unhappiness helped nobody given the social climate of the time. Ha added that Cheung cleared the mainland border smoothly but seemed more tense leaving Hong Kong, when officers invited him aside for a few questions.
Barrister Alain Sham, who has represented Li, said he knew some matters but they were private and might not be accurate, pointing journalists to the authorities. Cheung’s phone went unanswered. Senior Counsel Priscilia Lam, for Chan, said she had heard nothing of a release. It is further understood that other accomplice witnesses still in custody in the same case may likewise be in line for early discharge.
