Cardinal, pop star bailed in latest Hong Kong security arrests
Wed, May 11, 2022
A Catholic cardinal critical of Beijing was released on bail by Hong Kong authorities, local media reported late Wednesday, as his arrest under the city's national security law prompted US demands that he be freed.
Retired cardinal Joseph Zen, 90, was seen in media footage waving to reporters as he left a police station in the city hours after his arrest, but he did not give a statement.
He was released shortly before the White House issued a statement demanding he be freed "immediately", and as the Vatican voiced "concern" at his arrest and said it was following the situation "very closely".
Canadian Cantonese pop singer Denise Ho, who was also among a group of veteran democracy advocates arrested under the law, was similarly released on bail, local media said.
Those arrested were all trustees of a now-disbanded fund that helped finance demonstrators detained during massive democracy protests that swept Hong Kong three years ago.
Police said in a statement on Wednesday that two men and two women, aged between 45 and 90, had been detained for conspiring to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security.
They will all be granted bail but their travel documents will be confiscated, police added.
Zen is a former bishop of Hong Kong and one of the most senior Catholic clerics in the Chinese business hub.
He has been critical of the Vatican's decision to reach a compromise with China over the appointment of bishops on the mainland and an advocate of Hong Kong's democracy movement.
Ho is a popular local vocalist and an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights.
The other people arrested were veteran barrister Margaret Ng and prominent cultural studies scholar Hui Po-keung.
Police said those arrested were trustees of the "612 Humanitarian Relief Fund", which helped arrested protesters pay their legal and medical bills.
Those arrested were suspected of endangering national security because they allegedly asked foreign nations or overseas organisations to impose sanctions on Hong Kong, police said.
On Tuesday, scholar Hui became the first among the group to be arrested as he tried to leave via the airport to take up an academic post in Europe.
- 'Collusion' -
The offence of "foreign collusion" was introduced in a sweeping national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in response to the democracy protests.
The security law has crushed dissent in the once outspoken business hub and can carry up to life in jail.
One of the group's trustee, democracy activist Cyd Ho, has already been jailed for unauthorised assembly in a separate case.
The fund disbanded last year after the city's national security police demanded it hand over operational details including information about its donors and beneficiaries.
In its Wednesday statement, police said it was also seeking to charge the trustees and an additional person for failing to properly register the group in accordance with law.
Shortly before the fund closed in October, Hong Kong's Lingnan University said its contract with Hui had ended but declined to state a reason on privacy grounds.
Academics who played prominent roles in Hong Kong's now decimated democracy movement have often found themselves dropped by universities and are struggling to find work.
A social commentator and prolific author, Hui taught for more than two decades at Lingnan University and was credited by former student leader Nathan Law with inspiring his political career.
bur-hol/st
Wed, May 11, 2022
A Catholic cardinal critical of Beijing was released on bail by Hong Kong authorities, local media reported late Wednesday, as his arrest under the city's national security law prompted US demands that he be freed.
Retired cardinal Joseph Zen, 90, was seen in media footage waving to reporters as he left a police station in the city hours after his arrest, but he did not give a statement.
He was released shortly before the White House issued a statement demanding he be freed "immediately", and as the Vatican voiced "concern" at his arrest and said it was following the situation "very closely".
Canadian Cantonese pop singer Denise Ho, who was also among a group of veteran democracy advocates arrested under the law, was similarly released on bail, local media said.
Those arrested were all trustees of a now-disbanded fund that helped finance demonstrators detained during massive democracy protests that swept Hong Kong three years ago.
Police said in a statement on Wednesday that two men and two women, aged between 45 and 90, had been detained for conspiring to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security.
They will all be granted bail but their travel documents will be confiscated, police added.
Zen is a former bishop of Hong Kong and one of the most senior Catholic clerics in the Chinese business hub.
He has been critical of the Vatican's decision to reach a compromise with China over the appointment of bishops on the mainland and an advocate of Hong Kong's democracy movement.
Ho is a popular local vocalist and an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights.
The other people arrested were veteran barrister Margaret Ng and prominent cultural studies scholar Hui Po-keung.
Police said those arrested were trustees of the "612 Humanitarian Relief Fund", which helped arrested protesters pay their legal and medical bills.
Those arrested were suspected of endangering national security because they allegedly asked foreign nations or overseas organisations to impose sanctions on Hong Kong, police said.
On Tuesday, scholar Hui became the first among the group to be arrested as he tried to leave via the airport to take up an academic post in Europe.
- 'Collusion' -
The offence of "foreign collusion" was introduced in a sweeping national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in response to the democracy protests.
The security law has crushed dissent in the once outspoken business hub and can carry up to life in jail.
One of the group's trustee, democracy activist Cyd Ho, has already been jailed for unauthorised assembly in a separate case.
The fund disbanded last year after the city's national security police demanded it hand over operational details including information about its donors and beneficiaries.
In its Wednesday statement, police said it was also seeking to charge the trustees and an additional person for failing to properly register the group in accordance with law.
Shortly before the fund closed in October, Hong Kong's Lingnan University said its contract with Hui had ended but declined to state a reason on privacy grounds.
Academics who played prominent roles in Hong Kong's now decimated democracy movement have often found themselves dropped by universities and are struggling to find work.
A social commentator and prolific author, Hui taught for more than two decades at Lingnan University and was credited by former student leader Nathan Law with inspiring his political career.
bur-hol/st
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FILE - Hong Kong's outspoken cardinal Joseph Zen, center, and other religious protesters hold placards with "Respects religious freedom" written on them during a demonstration outside the China Liaison Office in Hong Kong, Wednesday, July 11, 2012. Reports say a Roman Catholic cardinal and three others have been arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces to endanger Chinese national security. U.K.-based human rights group Hong Kong Watch said Cardinal Joseph Zen, lawyer Margaret Ng, singer Denise Ho and scholar Hui Po-keung were detained Wednesday, , May 11, 2022, by Hong Kong's National Security Police. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong authorities arrested a Roman Catholic cardinal, a singer and at least two others on Wednesday on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces to endanger China’s national security, reports said.
Cardinal Joseph Zen, singer-actress Denise Ho, lawyer Margaret Ng and scholar Hui Po-keung were detained by Hong Kong’s National Security Police, the U.K.-based human rights group Hong Kong Watch said.
The arrests were apparently related to their roles as trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which provided legal aid to people who took part in 2019 pro-democracy protests that were quashed by security forces, the group said. The fund closed in 2021, it said.
Scores of pro-democracy activists have been arrested under a sweeping National Security Law imposed on the city by Beijing in 2020 following the demonstrations. The city’s independent media have been gutted and its legislature reorganized to pack it with Beijing loyalists.
Zen, the retired archbishop of Hong Kong, is a fierce critic of China and has been blistering in his condemnation of the Vatican’s 2018 agreement with Beijing over bishop nominations, which he has said was a sellout of underground Christians in China.
The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said the Holy See “learned with concern the news of the arrest of Cardinal Zen and is following the evolution of the situation with extreme attention.”
Ho also has been outspoken in her advocacy of civil and political rights. Her manager, Jelly Cheng, confirmed Ho’s arrest but said she had no other information.
Hui was arrested at Hong Kong’s international airport as he sought to leave the city, Hong Kong Watch said.
“Today’s arrests signal beyond a doubt that Beijing intends to intensify its crackdown on basic rights and freedoms in Hong Kong,” said the group’s chief executive, Benedict Rogers.
“We urge the international community to shine a light on this brutal crackdown and call for the immediate release of these activists,” Rogers said.
The White House also called on China and Hong Kong authorities to cease targeting Hong Kong advocates and immediately release Zen and others who were “unjustly detained and charged,” deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday.
Several leading Kong Kong activists have fled to Taiwan, Britain or elsewhere, while thousands of other Hong Kongers have chosen to leave the city, raising concerns about the economic future of the Asian financial center of 7.4 million.
The arrests follow the selection on Sunday of Hong Kong’s new leader, John Lee, a hard-line former security chief who ran unopposed in a process controlled by Beijing.
The European Union and foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. — condemned the election as fundamentally undemocratic and a betrayal of the “one country, two systems” principle under which Hong Kong was supposed to retain its own political, legal and economic system for 50 years after the end of British colonial rule.
Hong Kong’s government and police had no immediate comment on the reported arrests.
Maya Wang, Human Rights Watch’s China senior researcher, said she understood a fifth person, former Legislative Council member Cyd Ho Sau-lan, had also been arrested.
Arresting Zen for his peaceful activities “has to be a shocking new low for Hong Kong, illustrating the city’s free fall in human rights in the past two years,” Wang said in a statement.
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong authorities arrested a Roman Catholic cardinal, a singer and at least two others on Wednesday on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces to endanger China’s national security, reports said.
Cardinal Joseph Zen, singer-actress Denise Ho, lawyer Margaret Ng and scholar Hui Po-keung were detained by Hong Kong’s National Security Police, the U.K.-based human rights group Hong Kong Watch said.
The arrests were apparently related to their roles as trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which provided legal aid to people who took part in 2019 pro-democracy protests that were quashed by security forces, the group said. The fund closed in 2021, it said.
Scores of pro-democracy activists have been arrested under a sweeping National Security Law imposed on the city by Beijing in 2020 following the demonstrations. The city’s independent media have been gutted and its legislature reorganized to pack it with Beijing loyalists.
Zen, the retired archbishop of Hong Kong, is a fierce critic of China and has been blistering in his condemnation of the Vatican’s 2018 agreement with Beijing over bishop nominations, which he has said was a sellout of underground Christians in China.
The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said the Holy See “learned with concern the news of the arrest of Cardinal Zen and is following the evolution of the situation with extreme attention.”
Ho also has been outspoken in her advocacy of civil and political rights. Her manager, Jelly Cheng, confirmed Ho’s arrest but said she had no other information.
Hui was arrested at Hong Kong’s international airport as he sought to leave the city, Hong Kong Watch said.
“Today’s arrests signal beyond a doubt that Beijing intends to intensify its crackdown on basic rights and freedoms in Hong Kong,” said the group’s chief executive, Benedict Rogers.
“We urge the international community to shine a light on this brutal crackdown and call for the immediate release of these activists,” Rogers said.
The White House also called on China and Hong Kong authorities to cease targeting Hong Kong advocates and immediately release Zen and others who were “unjustly detained and charged,” deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday.
Several leading Kong Kong activists have fled to Taiwan, Britain or elsewhere, while thousands of other Hong Kongers have chosen to leave the city, raising concerns about the economic future of the Asian financial center of 7.4 million.
The arrests follow the selection on Sunday of Hong Kong’s new leader, John Lee, a hard-line former security chief who ran unopposed in a process controlled by Beijing.
The European Union and foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. — condemned the election as fundamentally undemocratic and a betrayal of the “one country, two systems” principle under which Hong Kong was supposed to retain its own political, legal and economic system for 50 years after the end of British colonial rule.
Hong Kong’s government and police had no immediate comment on the reported arrests.
Maya Wang, Human Rights Watch’s China senior researcher, said she understood a fifth person, former Legislative Council member Cyd Ho Sau-lan, had also been arrested.
Arresting Zen for his peaceful activities “has to be a shocking new low for Hong Kong, illustrating the city’s free fall in human rights in the past two years,” Wang said in a statement.
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