Commentary The year 2021 will go down in the history of Hong Kong as a “year of death” for the once vibrant civil society. Within a short span of a year, more than 60 pro-democracy groups, news media, and trade unions were strangled to death by the draconian national security law (NSL) enacted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2020. Stand News, which made the head count in an October issue, became one of the latest casualties at the very end of the year. The arrest of six senior editors and directors of Stand News, coupled with the freeze of more than HK$61 million (roughly US$7.8 million), led to the immediate death of the web-based news outlet. This blatant suppression of press freedom by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government immediately made headlines in newspapers all over the world and drew heavy criticism from many countries. In …