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#Politicization #MidAutumnFestival #FailedState
Hong Kong Correctional Services Rejects Retired Cardinal's Applications to Distribute Mooncakes to Persons in Custody for "Political" Reason

Retired cardinal of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, Joseph Zen Ze-Kiu, have been sending mooncakes to persons in custody for Mid-Autumn Festival since 2010. He was still able to do so in the midst of the 2019 anti-ELAB movement.

However, the Hong Kong Correctional Services Department (CSD) has rejected his application in 2020 on the grounds of categorizing it as a politicised activity.

In Zen’s blog, he felt upset to be forced to discontinue this tradition of his, because he understood that this year's mid-autumn festival for the persons in custody would be less warm. They have always looked forward to the mooncakes and always asked him during visitations, “Cardinal, any mooncake this year?”

Some of them said, “At least, there are people who still remember us and are willing to care for us during this festive season.”

Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong shared this activity on his Facebook page earlier and said he had received Zen’s mooncakes three years ago for the first time in jail. At that time, he and other inmates longed for the distribution of Zen's mooncakes.

Zen said that the activity this year was planned to be the same as every other year. He speculates that the reason behind why the the government rejected him was due to the mentioning by Joshua Wong,
Secretary-General of the now disbanded Demosisto, and pro-democracy lawmaker Bottle Shiu Ka-Chun, who is also a social worker.

Source: HKC News #Sept2
https://www.hkcnews.com/article/33523/%E9%99%B3%E6%97%A5%E5%90%9B-%E6%87%B2%E6%95%99%E7%BD%B2-%E6%9C%88%E9%A4%85-33523/%E6%9C%88%E9%A4%85h

#CSD #MoonCake #JoshuaWong #ShiuKaChun #JosephZen #CatholicDioceseHongKong #Cardinal
#Regime
Hong Kong Authority Introduces #SmartPrison with 24-hour #HD Surveillance, Detainee: I Live As an Animal

"Here, it is even worse than the CIC [Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre],"
almost every detainee in Tai Tam Gap Correctional Institution in Hong Kong said the same thing.

In 2020, around 30 detainees in #CIC went on a hunger strike, protesting against their unlimited detention time, the facility's poor hygiene, and the inappropriate behavior of the correctional department staff.

The CIC Concern Group, a non-profit human rights group, was thereafter created by a group of social workers, pro-demoncracy activists and volunteers in Hong Kong; however, even them could not believe that there exists a detention centre in Hong Kong that is worse than the CIC.

In June 2021, the Hong Kong authority transferred some of the protesting detainees in the CIC to the Tai Tam Gap Correctional Institution.

The newly established facility is the first "Smart Prison" in Hong Kong. This institution is full of HD surveillance cameras. All the detainees are required to wear an electronic bracelet for the authority to monitor their heartbeats and locations.

Those who are detained in the centre are thereoretically not prisoners, as they have only violated the immigration regulation; however, they are being detained in a prison.

To make it worse, the Correctional Service Department (#CSD) has already dispatched twice the Regional Response Team, Panther, within 4 months, to "combat illegal activities". It was found that some detainees have been placed in individual detention for 2 months.

Meanwhile, it was discovered that some correctional department staff have been watching the surveillance canera footage like a voyeur , followed by acts like masturbation and ridiculing the detainees.

A detainee said, "I live as an animal."

The CIC concerned group criticised that the authority has abused the detainees by means of violence, individual detention and privacy infringement.

The group's worst fear is that using the most disadvantaged detainees as guinea pigs is only the first step of the government and that the same operation systen would be appled to all prisons in Hong Kong next.

"The government labelled the CIC detainees as very dangerous to justify the need for an upgrade in military equipment. They can do thr sane thing in any prisons in Hong Kong."

Source: InMediaHK #Sep25
https://bit.ly/3o5PSbS

#Prison #Xinjiang #Surveillance #Dystopia #Panthers #Chinazi #TaiTamGapCorrectionalInstitution