Communist China Arrests Top Catholic Priest as Part of Massive Crackdown
Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun arrrestd for 'colluding with foreign forces'
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Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun was arrested by the national security police in Hong Kong for allegedly colluding with foreign forces, according to reports.
The cardinal was arrested with former opposition lawmaker Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee and singer Denise Ho Wan-sze, according to sources cited by the South China Morning Post.
The Post notes:
All three are trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which offers financial assistance to individuals involved in anti-government protests.
A fourth trustee, Hui Po Keung, was arrested on Tuesday.
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He was attempting to catch a flight to Germany at the time of the arrest.
A list of individuals who would be stopped by law enforcement if they tried to leave Hong Kong via the airport or other sources, the South China Morning Post reported.
"The arrest of Cardinal Zen is a blow for the entire church in Hong Kong, China and the world"
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) May 12, 2022
International outrage follows arrest of 90-year-old Catholic cardinal under Hong Kong national security law - deepening fears at China's crackdown on the cityhttps://t.co/KhjLLJUjRN pic.twitter.com/w8JV9otEsX
The fifth and final trustee of the Relief Fund, Cyd Ho Sau-lan, has not been arrested but is already in jail for reportedly illegal assemblies, according to the outlet.
Local law enforcement issued a statement in September 2021 that the National Security Department was looking into the Relief Fund as they were suspected of violating aspects of the Beijing-imposed legislation, the South China Morning Post reported.
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The group was forced to hand over details of donors and recipients.
This came along with a plethora of other information related to their work, according to the outlet.
Communist China Funneled $54 Million in 'Gifts' to Penn Biden Center
— Neon Nettle (@NeonNettle) April 11, 2022
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Others have been arrested in Hong Kong for links to pro-democracy protests and for making public statements against the government.
President Joe Biden offered the U.S as a temporary “safe haven” for Hong Kong residents attempting to flee the crackdown on the territory from mainland China.
The Catholic Herold reported:
Although Cardinal Zen’s arrest this time was not due to his religious activities per se, of course his courageous campaigning for human rights and democracy over decades has been inspired and informed by his faith. He has been a constant target of Beijing. In 2019, I attended a private gathering of Catholic legislators in Fatima, Portugal, to which the Cardinal and Hong Kong’s “father” of the democracy movement, devout Catholic Martin Lee, were also invited. China’s embassy in Lisbon tried to get the organisers to withdraw the invitation to them and, when that proved unsuccessful, sent a delegation of a diplomats to occupy the entire first floor of the hotel opposite ours and make multiple attempts to infiltrate our gathering. Most recently, in February the pro-Beijing newspaper in Hong Kong, Ta Kung Pao, devoted a full page to articles attacking Christianity in general and the Cardinal in particular.
