HONG KONG, May 11 (Reuters) – Cardinal Joseph Zen, one of Asia’s top Catholic clerics, and three others who helped run a now-disbanded Hong Kong protest fund have been arrested on charges of colluding with foreign powers. And later released on bail.
Zen, a 90-year-old former bishop of Hong Kong, was questioned for several hours on Wednesday at the Chai Wang Police Department, which is locked in his church residence, before being released on bail by police. The silver-haired Zen, wearing a white clerk’s collar, left without commenting to the media.
Local police said in a statement that the national security department of the police force arrested two men and two women aged 45 to 90 for “colluding with foreign forces” on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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Police say they are suspected of demanding foreign sanctions. All were released on bail with confiscated passports under national security law, police said.
A legal source familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier that five people had been arrested in connection with the case: Zen; senior attorney Margaret Ng, 74; activist and pop singer Denise Ho; former MP Sid Ho; and former academician Hui Po-keung.
Zen has long advocated for democratic causes in Hong Kong and mainland China and has spoken out against President Xi Jinping’s growing authoritarianism in China, including the Beijing National Security Act and the persecution of some Roman Catholics in China.
According to media reports, Hui was arrested at the airport on Tuesday night, while Sid Ho was already in prison in a separate case.
The five were trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Aid Fund, which helped protesters arrested during pro-democracy and anti-Chinese protests in 2019 to help pay their legal and medical fees.
VATICAN SENSED
Hong Kong has long been one of the most important Catholic beaches in Asia, home to an extensive network of aid agencies, scholars and missions that support Catholics in mainland China and elsewhere.
Beijing imposed a broad national security law in June 2020, which punishes terrorism, secret agreements with foreign powers, subversive activities and separation with possible life imprisonment.
The Vatican said on Wednesday it had learned of Cardinal Joseph Zen’s arrest in Hong Kong “with concern” and was following developments “with extreme caution”.
Reuters was unable to contact others immediately for comment. The Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong did not comment immediately.
The Humanitarian Aid Fund 612 was abolished last year after the dissolution of a company that helped receive donations through a bank account.
The arrests came after police announced last September that they had launched an investigation into the fund for alleged violations of national security law.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell said the United States is concerned about “oppression” in Hong Kong, including in religious circles and academia.
“All I can tell you is that I think we are increasingly concerned about steps in Hong Kong to pressure and eliminate civil society,” Campbell said at an online event in Washington when asked about the arrests.
Hui, an associate professor of cultural studies at Lingnan University, once taught Nathan Lowe, an activist for democracy in exile.
“If you want to punish someone, you can always find an excuse,” Lo wrote on his Facebook page in response to Hui’s arrest.
Critics, including the United States, say the security law undermines the freedoms promised by China under the “one country, two systems” agreement when Hong Kong was returned by the British government to China in 1997.
But Hong Kong officials say the law has brought stability to the city following mass demonstrations in 2019.
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Report by Jesse Pang, James Pomfret, Greg Torod and the Hong Kong editorial staff; additional reports by Philip Pulella in Rome, David Brunstrom and Michael Martina in Washington; edited by Nick McPhee, Mark Heinrich and Alex Richardson
Our standards: Thomson Reuters’ principles of trust.
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