Fr Mella urges amnesty for Hong Kong's political prisoners, who should not be forgotten
The PIME missionary from Italy today began a hunger strike in front of the government headquarter, Admiralty district. He is moved by the injustice inflicted upon an African immigrant’s daughter and hundreds of prisoners jailed for crimes of opinion. “It is as if the problem does not exist,” he laments, noting that freeing them would create a climate of trust.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) – “Freedom for all!” says Fr Franco Mella, a missionary with the Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions (PIME) who began a hunger strike today in front of government offices, in the central Admiralty district, to demand the release of political prisoners
Involved in many a battles in the past, the clergyman wants people not to forget the hundreds of activists, including many young people, jailed since 2019 following the brutal crackdown against Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movements through a draconian national security law.
Fr Mella is not new at this kind of action. Each year, he holds a protest to remember another case of injustice, involving Alice, a little girl, daughter of a Ugandan immigrant.
“Separated from her birth mother, abandoned at birth by the latter’s partner, we accompanied her to visit the mother despite many problems over the years due to this trauma, until five years ago. When the girl was nine years old, social services decided to give her for adoption to an Indian family," Fr Mella said.
“She had two aunts willing to take care of her but the judge did not want to hear our appeal in favour of a link with the birth family. They had promised to stay in touch, but since 11 July 2019 we have not seen her again. Today she is 14 and we don't even know where she is.
For this reason, “every year, on the anniversary of this forced separation, I add one day to my hunger strike: five days for the five years that have passed since this injustice.
"Today, the last day of my hunger strike is also dedicated to political prisoners. More than a thousand have been in prison for years without doing anything wrong.”
Recently, lawyers representing 47 pro-democracy activists have gone to court to plead on behalf of their clients, asking for a lesser sentence. The activists were convicted for organising primary elections to pick candidates to run for the Legislative Council.
“The lawyers convinced some to plead guilty hoping for a lesser sentence. Instead, the Hong Kong and Beijing governments should apply an amnesty to solve the problem once and for all,” said Fr Mella.
"Rather than worrying about the new pair of pandas (Beijing's gift to Hong Kong on July 1, the anniversary of its return to Chinese rule), the chief executive should free these people and create a climate that would enable those who left the country to feel safe enough to come back.”
What worries Fr Mella the most is that people are getting used to the situation.
“It is as if the problem does not exist,” he explained. “We talk about it less and less. Still, tonight some relatives of the people in prison wrote to me thanking me and telling me that other voices should join mine.
"Some local journalists came to interview me about my gesture. They asked me what will change after my hunger strike? I told them that my duty is not to remain silent. Our conscience urges us to do this.”
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31/01/2022
