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Cardinal Joseph Zen delivers his homily at a Mass on May 24 in Hong Kong.YouTube

WASHINGTON D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Hong Kong’s emeritus Cardinal Joseph Zen has been nominated for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize by the bipartisan U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

In a press release Thursday, the Commission announced that it was nominating Zen, along with journalist Jimmy Lai and four other Hong Kong citizens, for the annually awarded prize. 

Joining Cardinal Zen on the list of nominees is the 75-year-old Catholic journalist and vocal China critic Jimmy Lai, who is currently serving a six-year jail term in China for a court sentence of “fraud” and “collusion with foreign forces.”

READ: Hong Kong court sentences China critic and Catholic journalist Jimmy Lai to six years in prison

Alongside Zen and Lai, the bipartisan Commission have nominated four other Hong Kongers: Tonyee Chow Hang-tung, Gwyneth Ho, Lee Cheuk-Yan and Joshua Wong.

All six “were nominated because they are ardent champions of Hong Kong’s autonomy, human rights, and the rule of law as guaranteed under the Sino-British Declaration and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” wrote the Commission.

The six individuals, continued the press release, “are representative of millions of Hong Kongers who peacefully opposed the steady erosion of the city’s democratic freedoms by the Hong Kong government and the government of the People’s Republic of China.”

The Commission is comprised of Republican and Democrat congressmen and senators, chaired and co-chaired by Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) respectively. In nominating the six Hong Kongers, the lawmakers wrote that they “seek to honor all those in Hong Kong whose bravery and determination in the face of repression has inspired the world.”

Benedict Rogers, the co-founder and chief executive of Hong Kong Watch, welcomed the news, stating that it “captures the breadth and scale of the crackdown in Hong Kong, across multiple sectors including law, politics, media, trade unions, civil society and religion.”

Rogers further described the nomination as “extremely welcome and wholly deserved, both for the individuals who have been nominated and for Hong Kong’s fight for freedom.”

The Commission’s nomination of the six individuals is of particular note, given that they all have been censured in some way by the Chinese authorities, including serving jail terms. Some, such as Lai, are still in prison.

Cardinal Zen was recently fined HK $4,000 ($512) by the Chinese authorities for failing to properly register the now-defunct 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund. The 612 Fund was established to offer “legal, medical, psychological, and emergency financial assistance” to those involved in the 2019 protests against the government’s Extradition Law Amendment Bill, which sought to allow prisoners to be transferred to mainland China for trial.

Zen subsequently appealed the sentence. His fine was a lesser penalty than the potential jail term he was original threatened with, after being arrested by the Chinese Communist authorities under the terms of China’s draconian 2020 National Security Law. 

However, Reuters reported that even though the cardinal avoided a conviction under the National Security Law, Zen could yet face further prosecution as police investigate “an accusation of ‘collusion with foreign forces.’” 

Rogers had previously spoken to LifeSiteNews about the Vatican’s “clear marginalization” of Cardinal Zen during his trial, stating that Pope Francis’ “emphasis on dialogue is admirable, but dialogue at all costs, including the Pope’s silence on major injustices in China, is wrong.”

READ: Cdl. Zen hospitalized after returning to Hong Kong from Benedict XVI’s funeral

Zen was allowed to travel to Rome at the start of the year for Pope Benedict’s funeral, in a surprise move by the Chinese authorities who have confiscated the 91-year-old’s passport. However, since returning he had to admit himself to hospital after health conditions he had prior to the funeral worsened upon his return to Hong Kong. 

The cardinal mentioned shoulder pain as well as breathing problems, for which he is apparently receiving treatment from “the best doctors in Hong Kong.”

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