Four prominent figures in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp, including former archbishop Cardinal Joseph Zen and Canto-pop star Denise Ho, have been arrested in the past 24 hours for ” collusion with foreign forces under the new national security law.
With our correspondent in Hong Kong, Florence de Changy
Shortly before midnight on Wednesday, police said the four suspects were administrators of the fund. 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund “, now dissolved, created to financially support in their legal and medical procedures the activists arrested during the major demonstrations of the summer of 2019. A highly symbolic name, since it is synonymous with June 12, the first violent incident during the protest marches that year.
Although all four were released on bail, their passports were confiscated by the authorities. Among these indicted personalities, the Cardinal Zenformer bishop of Hong Kong, known for his diatribes against the Chinese Communist Party during the demonstrations against the anti-subversion law in 2003. ” 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 “, he said on the occasion of his appointment as cardinal in the mid-2000s. For two years, Cardinal Zen, one of the most eminent Catholic clerics in Asia and administrator of the “612 Humanitarian Relief Fund “, However, was keeping a low profile.
He has great prestige among Catholics. The Catholic Church in Hong Kong has nevertheless embodied a certain distance from power, whether English power or Chinese power since 1997. Cardinal Zen has embodied this kind of desire to defend human rights and uphold an image of human dignity.
Michel Bonnin, researcher specializing in China, director of studies at EHESS
Canto-pop star and LGBT rights activist, Denise Ho is also among the pro-democratic figures arrested. In July 2019, she went to plead Hong Kong’s case before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, a move that infuriated Beijing. Lawyer Margaret Ng and academic Hui Po-keung were also arrested, the latter as he was preparing to leave for Europe, where he had obtained an academic post.
Cardinal Joseph Zen and the other three figures join more than 180 Hong Kongers arrested under the drastic national security law imposed by Beijing in June 2020. Those charged are generally not released on bail and can be sentenced to prison at life.
For the researcher Michel Bonnin, director of studies at the EHESS, these new arrests are the sign of a hardening of the security policy in the former British colony. A repression which will obviously be applied by the new chief executive John Leewho will take office on July 1.
A decision was taken to go all the way with repression, to continue a policy of terror and revenge against the democrats. The fact that this moment is being chosen to arrest those responsible, including someone as famous and respected as Cardinal Zen, means that the Chinese government sees an opportunity.
Michel Bonnin, researcher specializing in China, director of studies at EHESS
► To listen: Hong Kong: “John Lee is a good and loyal subject of Beijing»
” shocking escalation For the West, Beijing expresses its disagreement
Following the announcement of these arrests, several Western countries accuse China of wanting to put an end to the freedoms which it had nevertheless undertaken to respect on the territory. The United States calls on Beijing “to stop targeting those who defend Hong Kong”, recalling that ” freedom of expression (is) essential to prosperous and secure societies “. The Vatican indicates for its part: follow the evolution of the situation with extreme attention “.
The rights organization Human Rights Watch describes these arrests as ” shocking new disqualification for Hong Kong “. ” Even considering that the crackdown has worsened recently in Hong Kong, these arrests constitute a terrible and shocking escalation. added Amnesty International.
In response, China on Thursday announced its ” firm opposition to the avalanche of criticism from the West. “ The persons concerned are suspected of conspiracy, collusion with foreign countries or foreign forces in order to endanger national security – an act of a serious nature. said the Office of the Commissioner, which represents Beijing’s Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong, in a statement.
In less than two years, the national security law has allowed the arrest of almost all the figures of the democratic opposition.
► To read also: “Hong Kong, cifallen tee”, by Lau Kwong-Shing, a critique of the repression