Political activist Alex Chow has not forgotten the kindness of Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, the retired head of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong, who came visiting him when he was behind bars 5 years in the past.
Cardinal Zen has lengthy been recognized for his work as a jail chaplain. On the day Chow met him on the Pik Uk correctional centre, a most safety jail in Hong Kong’s New Territories, the aged priest had taken a public minibus to the jail, some 40 minutes trip into the hills from the densely-packed metropolis.
The 2 talked for 45 minutes, “possibly an hour”, with the jail officer giving up his seat so Zen, then in his mid-80s, might sit down. For Chow, jailed for his position within the peaceable 2014 Occupy Hong Kong protests, the cardinal was a supply of consolation and reassurance and a much-needed connection to the surface world.
“It meant quite a bit to me,” Chow, who was later launched on bail forward of the enchantment he finally gained, instructed Al Jazeera. “I might see his real concern for others and staunch opposition to injustice. I felt like I used to be genuinely in his prayers and one of many folks he cared about.”
The 90-year-old former head of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong now faces a trial of his personal.
On Monday he’ll face court docket with 5 others, together with standard Cantopop singer and LGBTQ activist Denise Ho, and lawyer Margaret Ng over a now-defunct fund that they set as much as assist pay the authorized charges of individuals dealing with trial in relation to the 2019 protests.
They have been arrested in early Could underneath the Nationwide Safety Legislation and accused of “colluding with overseas forces”.
Launched on bail, they have been charged on Could 24 with failing to register the fund.
All have pleaded not responsible and, within the 5 days allotted for proceedings, their defence is anticipated to argue that the group had a proper to affiliate underneath Hong Kong’s Primary Legislation, the mini-constitution that has been in place because the British handed the territory over to China in 1997.
Beijing imposed the safety regulation in June 2020.
“The Chinese language authorities desires to chop off all types of organizing and solidarity that run exterior of the Communist Social gathering’s management in Hong Kong,” William Nee, analysis and advocacy coordinator at Chinese language Human Rights Defenders, stated in an emailed response to questions. “The truth that Cardinal Zen is compassionate, caring, and well-respected in Hong Kong truly makes him a risk to the ruling authorities.”
Vatican criticised
Zen was ordained in 1996 and named Bishop of Hong Kong in 2002, turning into the chief of the territory’s Catholics, now numbering greater than 400,000. In 2006, in a ceremony in Rome, he was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict.
All through his profession, Zen has proven assist for democratic reform and giving the folks of Hong Kong extra say of their authorities. He held a “walkathon” for common suffrage, plenty in remembrance of the 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Sq. and visited the Occupy Hong Kong website to supply ethical assist to the 1000’s who had gathered there.
After his retirement in 2009, Zen grew to become extra essential of Beijing, which broke off relations with the Vatican in 1951 and created its personal Communist Social gathering-led Chinese language Patriotic Catholic Affiliation. He has been particularly essential of a 2018 deal underneath which Pope Francis recognised seven bishops appointed by Beijing, which was alleged to deliver the mainland’s Catholics, thought to quantity about 12 million, collectively.
“Cardinal Zen made the last word self-sacrifice,” Andreas Fulda, writer of The Wrestle for Democracy in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, instructed Al Jazeera in emailed feedback. “Deep down he should have recognized that the dictatorship in Beijing would by no means budge. Undeterred he advocated for Christians in mainland China. Firmly dedicated to the precept of non-violence he was a part of an influential ecumenical alliance of religion leaders advocating for liberal democracy in Hong Kong.”
The Catholic Church has been criticised for failing to take a firmer stand over Zen’s arrest and trial.
After he was charged on Could 24, pictured strolling into court docket leaning closely on a stick, the church launched a brief assertion noting that he had pleaded not responsible and that it could “carefully monitor” occasions.
“Cardinal Zen is all the time in our prayers and we invite all to wish for the Church,” it concluded.
On Thursday, when the pope was requested about spiritual freedom in China and Zen’s looming trial, he stated that whereas it was “not straightforward to grasp the Chinese language mentality”, it needed to be “revered”, in line with a report in Catholic Information.
On Zen, he stated: “He says what he feels and we see that there are limitations [in Hong Kong]”.
The pope, who spoke as he flew dwelling from the Congress of Leaders of World and Conventional Religions in Kazakhstan, added that he most popular to “select the trail of dialogue”.
Reviews stated China’s President Xi Jinping, who was additionally on the assembly, refused an invite for talks with the pope as a result of his schedule was full.
‘Function of life’
Zen’s trial is the newest in reference to the 2019 protests, which started with mass marches towards a proposed invoice that will enable extradition to the mainland and, amid a perceived lack of motion from the federal government and heavy-handed police techniques, advanced into generally violent calls for for extra democracy within the Chinese language-ruled territory.
The group arrange the 612 Humanitarian Aid Fund in July 2019, naming it after the primary critical confrontation between protesters and police the earlier month exterior the barricaded constructing of the Legislative Council the place politicians had been as a consequence of debate the contentious invoice. Police used rubber-coated bullets and tear gasoline towards protesters, and dozens have been arrested.
They wound up the fund in October final 12 months after police introduced that it was underneath investigation.
The fund’s closure, and the trial of those that based it, will even have repercussions for the 1000’s dealing with costs from the 2019 protests whose authorized prices might run into the a whole bunch of 1000’s of Hong Kong {dollars}.
CHRD’s Nee stated the shortage of funding choices might undermine these defendants’ proper to a good trial.
“It was attainable earlier than to crowdsource a few of these prices however by reducing off the flexibility to take action, Beijing will make it rather more troublesome for folks to afford the authorized sources to mount a stable defence,” he famous.
Zen has been out on bail pending trial.
At his first public look after his arrest, he addressed the Salesian Vocations Workplace (China Province) about his motivations in life and why he had entered the priesthood.
He famous that the world was “chaotic” and that some have been pushed by the necessity to pursue “cash, wealth, and energy” however he believed life meant studying what it means to be an individual of integrity, crammed with a way of justice and kindness.
“That is the aim of life,” the retired bishop stated.
Regardless of his longstanding assist for democratic reform, Zen had largely averted any backlash from the authorities.
After the bishop’s arrest, newly-installed Hong Kong chief John Lee, a former police officer and safety chief, stated the arrest was not associated to Zen’s background or beliefs, however that individuals who broke the regulation wanted to be held to account.
For Chow, now residing in the USA, the choice to arrest and prosecute a person many in Hong Kong regard because the territory’s “ethical conscience” is additional proof of how a lot the territory has modified.
“Him being prosecuted is telling,” he stated. “It actually reveals how the Hong Kong authorities has shifted its mentality [and] the long run trajectory of the way it may method spiritual freedom or political speech; whether or not Hong Kong will stay a free society or whether or not that’s lengthy gone.”