Knife attack on Kevin Lau

Knife attack on Kevin Lau
LocationTai Hong Street, Sai Wan Ho, Hong Kong[1]
Date26 February 2014
10:20 am (UTC+8)
TargetKevin Lau
Attack type
Triad attack
WeaponsMeat cleaver
Deaths0
Injured1 (Kevin Lau)
Accused11[2]
Convicted2[3]
Verdict19 years imprisonment

Kevin Lau (Chinese: 劉進圖), former editor-in-chief of the Hong Kong daily newspaper Ming Pao,[4] was attacked in the morning of 26 February 2014 as he was getting out of his car in Lei King Wan, Hong Kong, by two men who were waiting for him.[5] Lau suffered stab wounds to his back and legs. He was rushed to a hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery. The police and most commentators agree that it was a triad-style attack aimed at maiming without killing.[6]

While pro-establishment figures denied links between the attack and assaults on press freedom, local journalists and the local press saw the attack as part of a longstanding and crushing trend in which mainland Chinese interests seek to rein in Hong Kong's vibrant and still free press.[7][8][9][10] Thousands of people, led by leading journalists, attended a rally to denounce violence and intimidation of the media.[11] Ming Pao put up a reward of HK$3 million for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators.[12]

Eleven people, some of them with connections to triads in Hong Kong, were arrested in connection with the attack. The two main suspects had fled to Guangdong, China.[13][2] On 21 August 2015, two men were sentenced in Hong Kong to 19 years imprisonment for the attack.[3]

  1. ^ Kevin Lau 'triad' attack reconstructed as police pore over CCTV footage Archived 29 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine, South China Morning Post, 17 March 2014.
  2. ^ a b Two fresh arrests in Kevin Lau case brings total held to 11 Archived 17 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine, South China Morning Post, 26 September 2014.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference 20150821hongkongfp was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference 20140228bloomberg was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Kevin Lau stabbing: Nine held over attack in Hong Kong Archived 28 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 12 March 2014.