Hong Kong's Cardinal Zen has given his strong support to a leading democratic figure who has come under fire for highlighting China's human rights record.

Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, Bishop of Hong Kong, on Sunday said attacks by pro-Beijing politicians on Martin Lee, known as the father of democracy in Hong Kong, were shameful and ridiculous, not based on fact, and degrading to Hong Kong society. The cardinal added: "If Martin Lee is a traitor, I can also be called a traitor. I don't mind."

Mr Lee, the founder of the first pro-democracy political party in Hong Kong, wrote in The Wall Street Journal on 17 October encouraging President George W. Bush to make use of the time before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games "to press for a significant improvement of basic human rights" in China, including religious freedom and freedom of the press. He advised the US and other countries not to boycott the Beijing Olympics but to "step up the direct engagement" with China on the pressing issues such as democracy and human rights.

Responding to Mr Lee's article, pro-Beijing camps in Hong Kong initiated a series of media attacks on him, distorting his words to suggest he called for a boycott of the Olympics. They called him a traitor for inviting foreign powers to intervene in the internal affairs of China. Dr Tsang Hin Chi, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the highest political structure in China, called Mr Lee "crazy" for asking a foreign country to apply sanctions against China. Henry Tang Ying-yen, Hong Kong's Chief Secretary of Administration, said that Mr Lee should not politicise the Olympic Games. The leaders of two pro-Beijing political parties in Hong Kong, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong and the Liberal Party, accused Mr Lee of harming China.