Benny Tai. Photo Credit: International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
On November 19, 2024, 45 pro-democracy activists were sentenced to prison on charges of “conspiracy to subvert state power” in Hong Kong. The sentences handed out ranged from 4 to 10 years and were based on the various roles of the defendants in organizing informal primaries for the 2020 Legislative Council elections. Fourteen of the defendants were convicted earlier in May 2024. The more recent decisions were announced against the remaining 31 defendants who had pleaded guilty in hopes of getting reduced sentences.
One of those convicted is Benny Tai, a former University of Hong Kong (HKU) professor of law. Tai received a 10-year sentence, the longest sentence handed out, as the courts deemed him a “principal offender”. According to University World News, the judges concluded that Tai intended to “undermine, destroy or overthrow the existing political system” in Hong Kong, despite the non-violent character of Tai’s actions.
Tai is one of the founders of the Occupy Central democratic civil disobedience movement that eventually culminated in the Umbrella Movement. Due to his involvement in the protests of 2014 in Hong Kong, Benny Tai was fired from HKU in 2020 following a 2019 court conviction related to the protests. He had been working there since 1991. Arguing that the school was pressured into firing him, Tai said that “academic freedom is dead” in Hong Kong and that it had become impossible for academics to talk about controversial issues. Both the HKU university senate and the student union had protested his dismissal.
The 10-year sentence handed to Tai is the longest sentencing ever that is based on the National Security Law of 2020. A recent report by Human Rights Watch, published on September 24, 2024, and titled “‘We Can’t Write the Truth Anymore’: Academic Freedom in Hong Kong under the National Security Law”, outlined the negative impact of the National Security Law on academic freedom in Hong Kong. Under the new measures, administrative support to student unions has been eliminated and campus activities have been restricted. Students have been punished for peaceful campus protests, and university security given increased powers to shut down unsanctioned activities. Interviewed students and faculty have stated that the National Security Law has especially impacted those who want to work on issues deemed politically sensitive by political authorities. While some have been directly censored, for example being denied permission to offer a certain course or being reported to the police due to the content of their research, many more have been self-censoring out of fear of repression.
In addition to the 2020 law, a new security law in March 2024 introduced severe punishments for a series of crimes including treason, sedition, and sabotage. Among these newly defined crimes, one of the ones that will be highly consequential for academic activity is “espionage”. Under the new security law, collecting and/or sharing any information that is “directly or indirectly useful to an external force”, which could be applied to an extremely wide range of data, is grounds for an espionage charge. This new law is likely to cause further damage to the already weakened protections of academic freedom in Hong Kong.
Endangered Scholars Worldwide (ESW) condemns the unjust persecution of Benny Tai and other democracy activists in Hong Kong. ESW further condemns the weaponization of legislation for restricting free and critical academic work, especially on political issues. The proliferation of highly repressive criminal laws with vague definitions of punishable acts increases the possibility of more violations of academic freedom in the near future. We call on Hong Kong authorities to immediately cease the pressures placed on academic democracy activists including protesting students and faculty. We invite the international community dedicated to upholding human rights globally to join our call.
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