5 Hong Kong booksellers arrested for alleged sedition released on bail

Five Hong Kong booksellers arrested on suspicion of sedition have been released on bail two days after national security police raided a pair of independent bookshops where they worked.Police said the three women and two men, aged between 30 and 59, were released on Friday pending further investigation.A source earlier said the two bookstores involved were Have a Nice Stay bookshop in Prince Edward and Greenfield Book Store in Mong Kok.Media footage showed Sum Wan-wah, who was among a group of former journalists who co-founded Have A Nice Stay in 2022, and another female bookseller leaving police stations in North Point and Cheung Sha Wan, respectively, shortly after 10am.The five individuals were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly displaying and selling seditious publications. During the raids, officers seized multiple books.A police spokesman said the Customs and Excise Department had referred a case involving an overseas shipment of books deemed seditious to the national security department, though authorities did not reveal which titles were considered problematic.Another source earlier cited titles by the late opposition lawmaker Bottle Shiu Ka-chun, as well as Stay, a memoir by former Democratic Party lawmaker Emily Lau Wai-hing, as books suspected of promoting anti-government sentiment.