Global Groups Urge South Korea to Release Elderly Shincheonji Leader

In a press conference held on August 7 at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club, Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF), CAP Liberté de Conscience (CAP LC), FOREF, CESNUR, and Bitter Winter raised concerns about the treatment of elderly religious leaders in pretrial detention in South Korea, particularly focusing on 95-year-old Shincheonji Chairman Lee Man-hee and 83-year-old Mrs. Hak-ja Han Moon of the Family Federation. The organizations called on South Korean authorities to review Lee's detention, emphasizing proportionality, humanitarian considerations, and due process, and to ensure the legal response to religious minorities remains neutral and consistent with international human-rights obligations. Issues discussed included the broader pattern of freedom of religion or belief concerns, such as ongoing scrutiny of Segero Church in Busan, conscientious objection, a mosque project in Daegu, and religious accommodation in education. Hans Noot, associate director of HRWF, highlighted that these issues strike at the heart of democratic society, while Thierry Valle of CAP LC questioned the legality of detaining a 95-year-old under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture, citing alternatives like house arrest. Michael Langhans of FOREF Germany offered a legal analysis questioning the necessity of pretrial detention and the neutral gathering of evidence, while Márk Nemes of CESNUR noted increased hostility against Shincheonji globally. Massimo Introvigne, managing director of CESNUR, argued that South Korea 'has crossed a worrying line' and called for house arrest per the Mandela Rules. The scholars signed an official letter calling for Lee's immediate release.