Cardinal Joseph Zen arrested by Hong Kong’s national security police, Vatican expresses concern
- Police also arrest former opposition lawmaker Margaret Ng, singer Denise Ho and former academic Hui Po-keung
- All four were trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which helped protesters in financial need
Hong Kong’s national security police arrested Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, former opposition lawmaker Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee and singer Denise Ho Wan-sze on Wednesday, accusing the three opposition activists of colluding with foreign forces, according to sources.
The three were trustees of the now-defunct 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which was set up to help those involved in the anti-government protests of 2019 and came under the intense scrutiny of authorities over the past year.
Zen, 90, was released on bail and waved to reporters as he left Chai Wan police station at around 11.15pm. He got into a private car without making any comment.
The Vatican released a statement saying it was monitoring Zen’s arrest carefully. The US and EU governments condemned all of the detentions.
“The Holy See has learned with concern the news of the arrest of Cardinal Zen and is following the development of the situation with extreme attention,” the Holy See said.
A fourth trustee of the fund, former Lingnan University academic Hui Po-keung, was also arrested by national security police on Tuesday as he was about to catch a flight to Germany, a source said.
