September 26 marks a sad anniversary: a thousand days in prison for businessman Jimmy Lai.
Her was jailed for suppor-ting pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. His newspaper, and his newspaper, the Apple Daily, was forced to close by Chinese authorities after they imposed a draconian national security law.
Baptised by Card Joseph Zen, Jimmy Lai, 75, has been in prison awaiting trial since 31 December 2020, exactly a thousand days ago.
Those who have met him since say that, inside, he has found solace in reading the Bible. In the meantime, after repeated postponements, his main trial, on violating the national security law, is set to start on 18 December.
The Apple Daily ceased publication in 2021 after its bank accounts were frozen and 500 police officers raided its offices.
A thousand days behind bars for crimes of opinion gave the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) an oppo-rtunity to put the spotlight on his story and on the fate of other leaders of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
The CFHK, an umbrella organisation of 67 human rights groups, published an open letter to the President of the United States Joe Biden, urging him to take action to secure Jimmy Lai’s immediate release.
It also calls on him not to invite Chief Executive John Lee and other Hong Kong officials to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (AP-EC) Summit in San Francisco on 15-17 November, as well as impose sanctions against Hong Kong officials and pro-secutors who have abused their powers under the anti-demo-cratic law.
“Since Beijing imposed the NSL in Hong Kong on June 30, 2020, it has been broadly and arbitrarily applied in arresting 264 individuals for national security crimes, inclu-ding Jimmy Lai. In court cases to date, the government boasts a 100% conviction rate,” the letter states.
Jimmy Lai’s son Sebastian said that he was alarmed by his father’s conditions, openly ex-pressing fear that he could die in prison.
Sebastian Lai also slammed British authorities for their “shameful” failure to help his father who, like many people in Hong Kong, is a British national. On the one hand, the UK says it supports Jimmy Lai’s legal battle; on the other, it continues to do business with Hong Kong and China as if nothing happened.
Daily Archives: September 29, 2023
Priest commits suicide after police complaint for protesting anti-Christian violence
A Catholic priest who faced a police complaint for a social media post protesting recent anti-Christian violence in the Indian state of Manipur committed suicide on Sept. 13, with his body found hanging from a tree in a cemetery.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Sagar in India announced the death of Father Anil Francis in a statement to the press on Sept.15, saying, “We are extremely pained and sad over the death of Fr. Anil Fran-cis, who was known for his commitment to the works given to him and dedicated to the values preached by him.”
According to the statement, Francis’s death is under police investigation and the diocese is cooperating fully. It also noted that in a suicide note, Francis had requested that his body be cremated.
The suicide came shortly after Francis had posted an image to social media depicting a woman wrapped in the colors of the Indian flag being held by two men, with a mob behind them, with the text, “Wounded Manipur: 2 women paraded naked, gang-raped, not none arrested since two months. We are ashamed. When will peace prevail? Pray for Manipur.”
“We realize that Fr. AniI Francis was under tension and pressure over an FIR lodged against him over a post he had shared on Manipur violence on social media,” the diocese said in its statement, referring to the police complaint.
Indian Christians seek equal treatment for their schools
Christians in a southern Indian state have urged the provincial government to end discriminatory education policies that adversely impact Christian-run schools receiving state funds.
The Christian community runs around 6,000 of the estimated 8,403 schools in Tamil Nadu that receive government aid, and hence are referred to as “aided schools.”
“Most of them are in villages where the government is unable to provide education for want of infrastructure,” said Father Antonysamy Solomon, secretary of the education commission of Tamil Nadu Bishops Council (TNBC).Top of Form
He said the roughly 6,000 schools, which include close to 2,500 Catholic schools, have played a pioneering role in educating several generations in Tamil Nadu for more than a century.
“The government agreed to provide aid because of the community’s contributions. But it is discriminating against us and favoring only government schools now,” Father Solomon said.
The state government provides breakfast for students in primary schools run by it. Students passing out from the 37,211 government schools also benefit from a 7.50 percent special quota in admissions to higher education courses like medical and engineering.
A monthly stipend of 1,000 rupees (US$12) has been announced recently for female students from government schools to help them pursue higher education.
Indian Catholic school targeted by hardline Hindu mob
Hardline Hindu activists stormed a Christian school in central India, accusing it of disrespecting a Hindu god and demanding a police probe against its nun-principal.
The move “seems to be part of a well-orchestrated conspiracy to target our school,” said Sister Sarita Joseph, principal of the St Mary’s Convent School at Deori in Madhya Pradesh state’s Sagar district.
A mob gathered at the school gate on Sept. 26 to protest the alleged removal of a sketch of Hindu god Ganesh from the notice board.
Some of the protesters forced their way inside the office of the principal and began questioning her.
The school staff sought police help as the protesters continued sloganeering. They demanded action against the principal and the withdrawal of government recognition for the school.
The school is managed by the nuns of the Congregation of Jesus (CJ) in the Sagar diocese of the Eastern Rite Syro-Malabar Church.
The mob left the school campus only after the police assured them of a thorough probe.
“It is totally a false allegation,” Sister Joseph told UCA News on Sept. 28.
The nun said the police took statements from her and other staff members on the alleged removal of the Ganesh sketch.
Dynamics of obedience, dissent within Chinese society
Since the commencement of the treated radioactive water release from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea in late August, an unsettling surge of over 400,000 nuisance calls has flooded the Japanese embassy in Beijing.
This disturbing influx of harassing calls appears to be fuelled by an escalating anti-Japan sentiment in China, whether born out of a concerning lack of scientific understanding regarding the nature of the discharged water or, in some cases, driven by a deliberate malicious intent to disparage Japan.
On Aug. 25, a mere day after the ocean discharge began, the daily influx of harassing calls peaked at more than 40,000, persisting at around 10,000 in recent days.
The Japanese government has pleaded with China to address the issue, emphasizing the obstruction these calls cause to the embassy’s operations, yet the situation remains unresolved.
China’s stance opposing Japan’s ocean discharge is based on calling the water “nuclear-contaminated,” demanding an immediate halt without substantial scientific backing.
Iraq, Card. Sako: if Rome remains silent the future of Iraqi Christians at risk
Concerned for the future of Christians who today face a “different threat”, but one that is no “less serious” than the Islamic State. Embittered by the Holy See’s silence in the face of the mystifications of Rayan the Chaldean, the leader of a local militia calling itself Christian (but in the pay of Tehran) who openly disputes his legitimacy. But also aware of the support of a community, the Iraqi Christian community, and of the closeness of the Muslim world, for a struggle that embraces the very future of the country and its inhabitants.
This is the state of mind that the Patriarch of Baghdad of the Chaldeans, Card. Louis Raphael Sako, confides in this interview with AsiaNews in which he recounts the last few tumultuous weeks marked by calumnies, personal attacks, threats, court cases and the head-on clash with the President of the Republic. It was precisely because of the court hearings that are part of this campaign that he was unable to leave to take part in the meeting of the Mediterranean bishops in Marseilles, where Pope Francis will arrive Friday for a two day visit.
As will be recalled, in mid-July, the cardinal had temporarily transferred the patriarchal see from the capital to Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, in protest against the head of state’s annulment of the decree – which concerns “only the Chaldean Church, and this is the basic issue,” the patriarch explained – recognising its role and authority.
It was a surprising decision: Abdul Latif Rashid, in fact, has disavowed a centuries-old tradition by striking down the highest local Catholic authority, which is also responsible for managing the Church’s assets and property.
This is where the issue revolves: the control of the properties that are targeted by the self-styled Christian leader ’Rayan the Chaldean’ and the pro-Iranian militias that support him (a variegated galaxy that includes Shiites, Christians, Sunnis…), a threat to peace and coexistence for the nation. In response, the cardinal has not ruled out boycotting the upcoming elections. “In one second, the head of state wanted to erase 14 centuries of history and tradition, but I am not afraid and I have nothing to lose… maybe my life, but I am ready for that too. All this is being done to intimidate the Christians, to make them leave the country, and that is why I encourage them again, and more strongly, to stay and hope!”
“ The Holy See could have taken the floor, could have said that this gentleman’s propaganda is not true, could have tried to calm the people, the many Christians and Muslims in Iraq who are suffering from these new attacks, from these lies that hurt our community first of all.”
Tashkent: war on beards and veils against Islamic radicalism
The authorities of Uzbekistan are intensifying the campaign to combat excessively explicit manifestations of the Muslim religion in public places and in social life. As Radio Ozodlik illustrates, those who profess Islam are forced to cut their beards, and women are prevented from wearing the khidžab, the local version of the Islamic veil.
There is a video circulating online in which some students from the Bankovskij college in the city of Andižan are forced in rather violent ways to weave their veils behind their heads, and those who refuse to do so are not admitted to the lessons.
Such cases are frequent in Uzbekistan, such as that of the third-year student of the Bukhara Technological Engineering Institute, Fatima Abdullokh, who appealed to the daughter of President Šavkat Mirziyoyev, Saida, with a request to defend the students forced to take off their khidžab.
Similar measures were also taken at the ir ik pedagogical institute, in the Tashkent region, where the management demanded that the Uzbek language and literature student Karomat Mukimova take off her khidžab if she wanted to keep her place in the student hostel.
There were also raids organized on the homes of inhabitants of the provinces of Zangiata and Yangiyol, where men in black masks carried out searches to take all the clothing deemed inappropriate, because it was considered a sign of Islamic radicalism.
Two bishops from mainland China at the Synod in the Vatican
Like in 2018, two bishops from mainland China will be present at the Synod of Bishops set to open on 4 October at the Vatican, the Secretariat of the Synod announced at a briefing that saw the release of the latest list of participants.
“The local Church, in agreement with the authorities, put forward two names and the Holy Father included them among the members he appointed,” said Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín, undersecretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod.
The two bishops are 53-year-old Joseph Yang Yongqiang of Zhoucun (Shandong), appointed 10 years ago, and 58-year-old Anthony Yao Shun of Jining (Inner Mongolia).
Yao Shun is one of the first bishops ordained in 2019 after the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China reached a provisional agreement on episcopal appointments. The Vatican had, however, already approved his appointment in 2010.
The two are different from the two Chinese prelates – Bishop Joseph Guo Jincai of Chengde (Hebei) and Bishop John Baptist Yang Xiaoting of Ya’an (Shaanxi) – who participated in the 2018 Synod on young people.
Other prelates from the wider Chinese area will also be present, namely newly appointed Cardinal Stephen Chow, bishop of Hong Kong (who was already on the list), and Bishop Norbert Pu of Kiayi (Taiwan) from the Bishops’ Conference officially recognised by the Vatican (which includes only prelates from Taiwan).
Bangladesh promises minority panel ahead of national poll
The Bangladesh government has agreed to establish a commission to protect the interests of its religious minorities – Buddhists, Christians and Hindus – two days after the country’s largest forum of religious minorities launched a hunger strike.
Officials announced the government’s decision to establish a minority commission by October, on Sept. 23, two days after the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) began the indefinite hunger strike in Dhaka.
The council representatives ended the strike soon after the announcement came from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s political adviser Kabir Bin Anwar and co-chairman of the ruling Awami League party’s election committee.
The council has been planning a series of protests across the nation through September pressing for government systems and policies to protect the rights and interests of religious minorities in the country, ahead of the January general election.
The government agreed to establish a commission after seven council leaders, including two women, who were on hunger strike were hospitalized.
Rana Dasgupta, council general secretary told UCA News that the government decision was taken during a “special parliament session” and “we trust the word given to us will not be broken.”
The ruling AL, in its 2018 election manifesto promised to return the land the government confiscated from religious minorities such as Hindus and Christians in the 1960s when Bangladesh was part of Pakistan (as East Pakistan).
German bishops in tug of war over blessing same-sex unions
The German Bishops’ Conference convenes its plenary assembly on September 25, setting the stage for what promises to be a pivotal gathering amid a period of unprecedented tension within the Church in Germany – and with the wider Catholic Church.
On the official agenda for the gathering from Sept. 25–28 in the town of Wiesbaden are topics ranging from handling spiritual abuse to preparations for the upcoming Synod on Synodality in Rome.
However, overshadowing discussions are the profoundly divisive issues brought to the surface by the controversial German Synodal Way, particularly the blessing of same-sex unions – an issue that has seen acts of open defiance across Germany against clarifications from the Vatican.
At the centre of this maelstrom is Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, archbishop of Cologne, who faces mounting pressure from multiple fronts, including local media – and some clergy: In open defiance, several priests conducted an event blessing same-sex couples outside the iconic Cologne Cathedral September 21.