Just days after his deportation, Antoine Vedeilhe met with the RSF team in Paris, where he shared his alarming story for the very first time. On 2 November 2025, he was detained for three hours upon arriving at the Hong Kong International Airport airport from France, during which he was questioned and subjected to a full-body search before being deported from the territory. In the journalist’s view, his detention was a reprisal for his work on a documentary examining Beijing's grip on Hong Kong. It is one of many accounts of visas being weaponised in Hong Kong, which remain underreported due to pressure and sophisticated surveillance by the Chinese regime.

RSF and Vedeilhe carefully planned not to share the details of his ordeal during the documentary’s production to ensure the safety of his sources. Now, as the film’s release approaches in May, the NGO is publishing his account.

“Antoine Vedeilhe is one of dozens of foreign journalists who have faced retaliation for their independent reporting in Hong Kong, and one of the few willing to speak publicly about it. His case illustrates how closely Hong Kong has aligned itself with China in repressing independent media, and how far the authorities are willing to go in targeting journalists. We are appalled by these attempts to silence this courageous journalist and call on the international community to increase pressure on the Chinese regime to end its crackdown on the free press. Beijing’s threats against the media cannot be tolerated, or they will metastasise — they already extend beyond China’s borders and target journalists who thought they were safe in their home countries. There can be no ‘business as usual’ with a regime that targets journalists and seeks to export its model of repression and controlling information.

Just a day after the incident at the airport, a cameraman working on the same documentary with Vedeilhe who managed to enter the city— and whose name is withheld for security purposes — was followed by unidentified individuals that he suspects were Hong Kong’s national security police. In the following days, there was a hacking attempt on Vedeilhe’s private email account and his sources in the documentary were harassed by the national security police; to ensure their safety, RSF is not sharing any further details on their experience.

Vedeilhe was given no official explanation or documents concerning his expulsion. RSF reached out to the Hong Kong Immigration Department for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication. The day after Antoine Vedeilhe’s deportation, France Télévisions received an email, seen by RSF, from an unknown individual threatening the journalist and news outlet, claiming that his work “comes into conflict with the National Security Law in Hong Kong” and that “such editorial choices could be considered ‘incitement to hatred,’” potentially exposing both him and his channel to risk, and claimed that media’s correspondents, freelancers and partners in China and Hong Kong could also be required to cooperate with investigations, provide data, or even face criminal liability.” The documentary had been announced before Antoine’s arrival in Hong Kong in France Télévision’s programming schedule.

“For the past ten years, I have travelled to Hong Kong and have always sought to give a voice both to those resisting Beijing’s growing control, and to those within the authorities and civil society who express their attachment to China. During my most recent trip, I intended to document how this city, which I hold dear, has changed, and how and why its freedoms have been curtailed. My arrest, detention, and expulsion are not isolated incidents, and they illustrate how increasingly difficult it has become for journalists to work
in Hong Kong.

Antoine Vedeilhe is an experienced journalist who has worked in Hong Kong for 10 years, covering major social events, including trials of political activists and the closure of the now-defunct independent media outlet Apple Daily. He has worked for major French media organizations, including France Télévisions, the international news network France 24, and the public service channel Arte.

China targets media beyond its borders

Vedeilhe is not the first journalist to be prevented from entering Hong Kong.According to RSF data, at least 13 journalists have been denied a visa or barred from entering Hong Kong since the enactment of the draconian National Security Law in 2020, and there is reason to believe that many cases have gone unreported due to fears of retaliation. This tactic has also been used against press freedom advocates; in April 2024, ahead of a hearing in the ongoing trial of publisher Jimmy Lai, an RSF representative was detained and questioned at Hong Kong International Airport before being deported.

Hong Kong’s intensifying crackdown on the press

Between 2024 and 2026, journalists from at least 13 local and foreign media outlets — including the news sites InmediaHK, HK Feature and Hong Kong Free Press — two journalism schools and many individual journalists have been subjected to harassment both on and offline, including doxxing, death threats, surveillance, stalking and defamatory content sent via email or letters to journalists’ homes, workplaces and family members. What’s more, at least 20 individuals and seven independent media organisations, including the HKJA, have been targeted by Hong Kong’s Inland Revenue Department (IRD) in the past two years through a series of “random” tax audits, adding further pressure to already limited staff and resources.

Following the conviction of Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February 2026 — an unprecedented sentence since the NSL came into force —, the Hong Kong government removed three companies linked to Jimmy Lai from the Companies Register and sought to confiscate 127 million HKD (13,8 million EUR) in assets belonging to Lai. Apple Daily is not the only media outlet subjected to legal persecution. In 2024, two editors-in-chief from Stand News were given prison terms for publishing information deemed seditious by a Hong Kong court — the first such verdict in the city’s modern history.

International media threatened

“Don’t say we didn’t warn you,” the Office for Safeguarding National Security (OSNS) told the senior journalists they had summoned from several major outlets operating in Hong Kong, including news agencies such as the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. The OSNS issued threats against foreign outlets, which were accused of “spreading false information” following last November’s deadly fire, and ahead of the 2025 Hong Kong legislative election, another topic that the authorities considered sensitive.

Since 2020, the Hong Kong government has prosecuted at least 28 journalists, eight of whom are currently detained. Hong Kong is ranked 140th in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index, having plummeted down the rankings from 18th place since 2002. China ranks 178th of the 180 countries and territories surveyed in the Index.