Police arrest Hong Kong´s Catholic Cardinal over ´colluding with foreign forces´

Security police in Hong Kong have arrested democracy advocate, Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen, on charges of “colluding with foreign forces.”

The cardinal, one of the most senior clerics in Asia, was arrested along with four others on May 11. Together they ran a now disbanded humanitarian fund for protestors.

According to Reuters, a legal source familiar with the matter told said that five people had been arrested including Zen, aged 90. The others arrested are a senior barrister Margaret Ng, 74; activist and pop singer Denise Ho; former lawmaker Cyd Ho; and former academic Hui Po-keung.

Hui was arrested at the airport on Tuesday night, and Ho is currently in prison on separate charges.

The fund, “612 Humanitarian Relief Fund”, has been under investigation by police in Hong Kong after alleged violations of the national security law. The five arrested were trustees of that organisation, which was disbanded in 2021 after the disbandment of a company that use its bank account to receive donations. .

Zen and hi co-trustees were involved in helping protestors who had been arrested during pro-democracy, anti-China protests in 2019 to pay their legal and medical fees.

Exiled activist Nathan Law said on his Facebook page: “If you want to punish someone, you can always find an excuse.”

The national security law was widely criticised for removing freedoms promised by China under a “one country, two systems” arrangement, agreed when Hong Kong was returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

Hong Kong authorities, who arrest and detain a democracy advocate and Catholic cardinal, disagree, saying that the law has brought stability to the region, following the mass demonstrations in 2019.

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