University of Hong Kong starts procedure to decide whether co-founder of Occupy movement Benny Tai should be fired from his teaching job

The University of Hong Kong has started a procedure to decide whether one of its professors who co-founded the Occupy movement should be fired, an action described as “unjust” by an alumni group as the scholar is still seeking an appeal against his criminal convictions.

HKU Alumni Concern Group said on Tuesday it had learnt that a “committee of inquiry into possible good cause” had been initiated by the university to look into Benny Tai Yiu-ting’s teaching position, and a fresh round of verbal deliberation on his case would be held this week.

The associate professor of law was in April last year sentenced to 16 months in prison over two public nuisance charges related to the civil disobedience movement in 2014, during which protesters brought several parts of the city to a standstill for 79 straight days seeking greater democracy.

He was granted bail in August pending an appeal, as his leave to appeal will be handled by the Court of Appeal next month.

Concern group deputy convenor Mak Tung-wing said the initiation of the verbal deliberation this week ahead of the commencement of the hearing on his appeal bid would be “a breach of procedural justice and a violation of the university’s core values”.

“Once [during] the point of deliberation, should Benny Tai’s appeal be [upheld], you waste all your time,” Mak said.