(Hong Kong—May 11, 2022) Hong Kong authorities arrested Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun today for his role as a trustee of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which helped pro-democracy protesters and activists to pay their legal fees. The fund was founded in 2019 in response to the arrests of pro-democracy activists.
As previously reported by ChinaAid, Ta Kung Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper sponsored by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), published an article condemning the 90-year-old Cardinal. Cardinal Joseph Zen has been a long supporter of the pro-democracy movement, and he has been vocal for many years. This was a clear signal at the time of the CCP's view of him and religious freedom in Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong national security law, which passed in June 2020, prohibits previously protected civil liberties in Hong Kong under the guise of "foreign collusion,” "sedition," “terrorism,” and “subversion of state power.” Those charged with the law can be subject to a maximum of life imprisonment. Four other members of the Humanitarian Relief Fund have already been arrested at the time of this article.
Update: Cardinal Zen and the four other members were released on bail, but authorities confiscated their passports
Story originally published in ChinaAid.org.
