On Wednesday, the National Security Police arrested four trustees of the defunct 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, including barrister Margaret Ng, singer Denise Ho, Cardinal Joseph Zen, and academic scholar Hui Po-keung, for “collusion with foreign forces”.
The 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which funded legal aid to pro-democracy protestors throughout the 2019 pro-democracy movement, closed its operations in 2021.
Hui Po-keung, who is an academic scholar, was arrested at Hong Kong International Airport as he attempted to leave the city. The four will be released on bail.
Commenting on the arrests, Benedict Rogers, Hong Kong Watch’s chief executive, said: “We condemn the arrests of these activists whose supposed crime was funding legal aid for pro-democracy protestors back in 2019.
“[These] arrests signal beyond a doubt that Beijing intends to intensify its crackdown on basic rights and freedoms in Hong Kong.
“We urge the international community to shine a light on this brutal crackdown and call for the immediate release of these activists.”
Lord Alton of Liverpool, a patron of the charity, yesterday tabled a question in Parliament about these acts and contacted the UK’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss. He said: “Arresting a 90 year-old Cardinal, along with one of Hong Kong’s most internationally respected barristers, a popular singer and a prominent scholar takes the Chinese Communist Party regime and its proxies in Hong Kong to even lower depths of outrageous inhumanity in their repression of dissent in the city.
“The international community must speak swiftly and clearly in condemnation of these arrests, and must accompany rhetoric with action to signal that Beijing will no longer be allowed to act with impunity and get away with such egregious injustice without consequence.”
Commenting on the arrest of Cardinal Zen in particular, the last Governor of Hong Kong, Lord Patten of Barnes, a Patron of Hong Kong Watch, said: “The arrest of Cardinal Zen, one of the most important figures in the Catholic Church in Asia and in the Catholic Church’s advocacy for human rights in China and elsewhere, is yet another outrageous example of how the Chinese Communist Party is hellbent on turning Hong Kong into a police state. The arrest of other decent and brave Hong Kong citizens at the same time doubles down on the wickedness of what the Communists are doing.
“Beijing has, perhaps suitably, imposed a policeman, known for his disregard for human rights, as Hong Kong’s next Chief Executive. He has brought discredit on the Hong Kong police service, demonstrating that he would not know the rule of law if it hit him in the eye with a plastic baton rod.”
