China has continued with its campaign against democracy in Hong Kong. It has arrested five prominent pro-democracy advocates in the city including retired bishop, Cardinal Joseph Zen who is 90 years old. This information is published by Human Rights Watch. Here is an excerpt:

The Hong Kong police should drop their baseless criminal investigations against five prominent pro-democracy advocates, Human Rights Watch said today. The cases highlight the Hong Kong government’s broadening crackdown on human rights. 

On May 11 and 12, 2022, police arrested the five under article 29 of Hong Kong’s draconian National Security Law for the overbroad and vague crime of “colluding with foreign forces,” which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. The five are a former legislator, Cyd Ho, 67; a singer-activist, Denise Ho, 45; an academic, Hui Po-Keung, 62; a senior barrister, Margaret Ng, 74; and a retired Roman Catholic bishop, Cardinal Joseph Zen, 90. None have been charged, and all have been released on bail except Cyd Ho, who was already in jail, but they are barred from leaving Hong Kong.

“Hong Kong authorities haven’t just put Cardinal Zen, Margaret Ng, and others under arrest – they have put Hong Kong’s fundamental freedoms under arrest,” said Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Arresting a 90-year-old cardinal for his peaceful activities has to be a shocking new low for Hong Kong’s police, the latest example of the city’s human rights freefall in the past two years.”

Read the full article here.