One of Asia’s top Catholic cardinals said the arrest of Cardinal Joseph Zen highlights “the situation for human rights and threats to religious freedom in Hong Kong.”

Myanmar Cardinal Charles Bo issued after the Hong Kong authorities arrested Zen and accused him of violating the territory’s draconian security law, which was imposed on the former British colony by Beijing in 2020, after a series of pro-democracy protests in the territory. The cardinal has participated in a fund that is raising money for the defense of those accused under the security law.

Zen was released on bail the same day as his arrest after hours of questioning by police.

“Hong Kong used to be one of Asia’s freest and most open cities. Today, it has been transformed into a police state,” the Myanmar cardinal said.

“Freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and association, and academic freedom have all been dismantled. There are early signs that freedom of religion or belief, a human right set out in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Hong Kong is a party, is threatened,” Bo continued.

The cardinal’s statement is one of the strongest to appear after Zen’s arrest, with the official Vatican statement only noting “concern” over the arrest, and that the Holy See was “following the development of the situation very closely.”