Prisoners of all faiths pray for democrat Andrew Wan’s bail appeal: visitors report on 47
Andrew Wan, one of the 47 pro-democracy figures detained for their participation in unofficial primaries last year, has found some new friends in custody who have offered up multi-faith prayers for the success of his upcoming appeal for bail, according to one of his colleagues who visited the former lawmaker in jail on Sunday.
Apart from reading, Wan has been spending his time in Lai Chi Kok detention center with detainees from overseas, including Thais, Vietnamese, Pakistanis and Indians, said his fellow Democratic Party member Cheung Man-kwong.
They prayed for Wan’s successful appeal in line with their own religious customs, ranging from Sikhism, Buddhism and Islam. In addition, Catholic and protestant bishops and pastors have also given Wan their blessings during recent visits, Cheung said.
Wan’s bail appeal will be heard next Tuesday. He and 46 other pro-democracy politicians and activists have been charged with conspiring to subvert state power for taking part in last year’s primaries leading up to a legislative election. Only 11 of them are out on bail.
Another detainee, former lawmaker and activist “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung was sad to read the news about the arrest for subversion of Li Qiaochu, the girlfriend of mainland Chinese civil rights activist Xu Zhiyong, Leung’s wife Vanessa Chan said.
The families of former lawmakers Eddie Chu and Kwok Ka-ki also visited their loved ones in Stanley Prison on Sunday. The duo are among 12 being detained in the city’s top-security prison.
Former lawmaker Raymond Chan, who is also held in Stanley Prison, has been spending a lot of time exercising, his colleagues said on Facebook. He was also touched when reading the lyrics and calligraphy in letters written by dozens of Hongkongers, they said.
Activist Joshua Wong has been spending his time listening to radio shows, watching news and reading letters, as well as reading novels and political biographies, according to his colleagues. The letters were in particular a big encouragement to Wong, his colleagues said.
Meanwhile, Emilia Wong, the girlfriend of detained activist Ventus Lau, said she received a call on Lau’s mobile phone late on Saturday from what appeared to be a police officer. The caller asked why Lau failed to report to a police station earlier in the day, according to an audio recording released by Wong.
Wong then replied that “[Lau] is now being detained under the national security law,” and the caller said: “Oh, that’s right. It’s OK. No problems.” Wong said it was hard to believe such a call could have come from the police.
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