HONG KONG: Eleven employees of the suspended Eastweek magazine were arrested by police on Monday in connection with a publication last October of a naked woman, said to be that of actress Carina Lau more than a decade ago, it was reported here yesterday.
A police spokesman said 10 men and a woman, aged between 27 and 51, had been arrested by the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau. All were management staff and editors. No reporter was involved.
According to The Standard, the 11 were arrested for publishing an obscene article and were released on police bail of HK$5,000 (RM2,460) each.
They have to report back to the police within two to three weeks.
The arrests follow a ruling by the Obscene and Indecent Articles Tribunal last month, which classified the Oct 30 issue of Eastweek as “obscene”. The five-member tribunal, led by Justice Selwyn Hason Au, said the Eastweek issue had clearly exploited sex and violence.
The cover featured a visibly distressed, semi-nude woman with her eyes and breasts obscured.
The public outcry that followed its publication, and the street protest by celebrities, forced the magazine’s owner, Emperor Group chairman Albert Yeung, to halt its publication in November.
