The person in charge might be sentenced to one year imprisonment for publishing obscene pictures in the Next Magazine.
Commerce and Economic Development Minister Matthew Cheung said that the indecent photos would have a great impact on teenagers.
Next Media's Next Magazine compiled nearly 100 indecent photos of artists into a special issue for promotion, which aroused anger from all circles. Official in charge Matthew Cheung immediately filed an appeal. Yesterday, the Obscene Articles Tribunal unanimously ruled that the special issue belonged to Category Two (indecent) materials, formally overturning the previous ruling that temporarily rated it as Category One non-indecent material. Adjudicator Albert Eu pointed out that the indecent photo special issue of Next Magazine did not have a truly honest purpose of publication, but aimed to promote sales by compiling the indecent photos into an album with explicit images and texts. The Office of Film, Newspaper and Article Administration stated that the publisher of the magazine would be legally prosecuted later. Since Next Magazine was a repeat offender, it would face a maximum penalty of an 800,000 Hong Kong dollar fine and one year imprisonment.