James Pomfret

HONG KONG (Reuters), – On Monday, a coalition of Catholics and Christians called upon Carrie Lam in Hong Kong to drop the charges against Jimmy Lai, a Chinese media tycoon, and other activists held under stipulations of sanity laws imposed by China.

A petition signed by over a dozen leaders and members of Catholic and Christian groups was presented to the government outside Hong Kong.

Franco Mella, Catholic priest, said that “She could be active and ask Beijing (for amnesty).” Franco Mella was referring to Carrie Lam, Hong Kong leader, who is also a Catholic devout.

Mella, flanked at the side by Reverend Chi Wood Fung (a Hong Kong Anglican priest, and ex-lawmaker), said that “Let’s hope she answers her conscience as Catholic.” “I wish more voices could be heard regarding the possibility of amnesty.

Lam’s office didn’t immediately reply to Reuters’s request for comment.

Reverend Alan Smith, from St. Albans (UK), and Lord Eames, the ex-Archbishop for Armagh in Ireland were among the signatories. Mella stated that he hopes the Pope will “join him in his voice” to speak out about rights issues in Hong Kong.

China passed a broad national security law that bans subversion, collusion and terrorism, as well as secession, in June 2020. This could lead to life imprisonment. The legislation has led to the arrest of more than 160 individuals.

Some Western governments and rights organisations claim authorities use law to crush dissent, and limit freedoms.

However, the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities claim that the law brought stability to the financial center after the pro-democracy demonstrations of 2019.

47 former legislators and pro-democracy activists were among the prominent defendants in national security laws. They were also arrested during a massive raid on early 2021.

While some Hong Kong’s commercial and government elites are Catholic, Lam is one example. However, many other Catholics were active in anti-government and pro-democracy movements, such as Lai, and Benny Tai, a former law professor.

Some people see Hong Kong’s wide-ranging religious freedoms, such as the rule of law and tradition, as a remnant of Britain’s “one country two systems” model, which saw Britain hand its colony to China in 1997.

The Basic Law is a mini-constitution that “one country, two system” and explicitly allows freedom of religion and conscience.