Hong Kong: 90-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen arrested – Human Rights Watch sees “shocking low”
Created: 05/11/2022, 17:36
By: Sven Hauberg
Joseph Zen in 2019: The Catholic cardinal was arrested in Hong Kong (stock image).
© Meike Boeschemeyer/epd/Imago
Hong Kong police arrested 90-year-old cardinal and democracy activist Jospeh Zen.
She accuses the well-known China critic of cooperation with foreign forces.
Munich/Hong Kong – Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen was arrested in Hong Kong on Wednesday (May 11).
The
South China Morning Post
and the Reuters news agency report this in unison.
According to this, in addition to Zen, former opposition MP Margaret Ng and singer Denise Ho and professor Hui Po Keung were also arrested by the National Security Police.
All four were trustees of a fund set up to provide financial support to participants in the 2019 and 2020 democracy movement.
According to the
Post
report , they are accused of collaborating with foreign forces.
The 90-year-old Zen is one of the most senior Catholic cleric in Asia and was a former bishop of Hong Kong.
He had repeatedly expressed criticism of the leadership in Beijing and, as bishop, campaigned for Catholics in China who were loyal to the pope.
In China, they can only practice their faith underground;
the Communist Party only officially recognizes Catholics who are not loyal to the Vatican but to China's state Catholic Church.
Zen had also sharply criticized the so-called “National Security Law”, which had dealt the deathblow to the democracy movement in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong: "Human Rights in Free Fall"
Human rights activists reacted with horror.
"The arrest of a 90-year-old cardinal for his peaceful activities marks a shocking new low for Hong Kong and illustrates the human rights free fall in the city over the past two years," Maya Wang of human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) told the news site
Hong Kong Free Press
.
The group's arrest came just days after John Lee was named Hong Kong's new leader.
Lee succeeds Beijing-loyal Carrie Lam and is considered a hardliner.
The former security chief of China's special administrative region was involved in the brutal crackdown on the pro-democracy movement and is scheduled to take office in early July.
"The arrests that follow the Chinese government's appointment of former security chief John Lee as the city's head of government are an ominous sign that the crackdown in Hong Kong will escalate," said human rights activist Wang.
Lee's appointment was sharply criticized by the G7 foreign ministers, among others.
(sh)