Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, arrested on Wednesday May 11 under the national security law, was released on bail a few hours later by the pro-Beijing authorities in the territory.
In a video posted on Twitter, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, 90, appears greeting reporters as he leaves a police station in the Chai Wan district. He had been arrested hours earlier under national security law, along with academic Hui Po-keung, singer Denise Ho, an LGBTQ rights activist.
These very prominent personalities have in common to have participated in the management of a fund – now dissolved – intended to finance the defense of activists arrested during the major pro-democracy demonstrations which shook the former British colony in 2019 .
In a statement, the Vatican said it had ” learned with concern the news of the arrest of Cardinal Zen and follow the evolution of the situation with extreme attention “. The White House had for its part called for the immediate release by the Chinese authorities of the three personalities.
Tireless defender of political freedoms
Former bishop of Hong Kong where 400,000 Catholics live, Cardinal Zen is known for not mincing his words and for his tireless defense of political freedoms and democratic reforms. ” Faced with the Chinese government, you must always dare to speak the truth, whatever the headwinds. Because those who say that a priest must stick to prayer have understood nothing of what the Church is said Joseph Zen Ze-kiun when Pope Benedict XVI appointed him cardinal in the mid-2000s.
Joseph Zen Ze-kiun has always held to this credo. From the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, this defender of the pro-democracy movement became one of the figures of the 2003 demonstrations against the anti-subversion law. He retired in 2009, tired by heart problems, but continued his fight against Chinese repression. When the “612 Humanitarian Relief Fund” was created, a fund to help arrested demonstrators pay their legal and medical expenses, he became its administrator.
Singer Denise Ho was also released on bail, according to local media. Academic Hui Po-keung was still in detention on Wednesday evening. He had been arrested the day before for “collusion with foreign forces” as he was preparing to join Europe for a university post.
Imposed by Beijing in 2020 in response to the previous year’s huge protests in Hong Kong, the national security law crushed all dissent in this Asian business hub where expression was once free.
(With AFP)