Benny Tai sent back to jail to await Hong Kong court’s ruling in Occupy Central appeal

Court of Appeal revokes Tai’s bail after prosecutors object to his release on the grounds he was ‘alleged to have committed a crime’ while out on bail

Tai and his co-defendants, Chan Kin-man and Chu Yiu-ming, are appealing against their convictions on public nuisance charges over the 2014 protest movement

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Legal scholar Benny Tai gives a thumbs up as he leaves the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre earlier this week. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 5:56pm, 4 Mar 2021Updated: 8:45pm, 4 Mar 2021

One of the co-founders of Hong Kong’s Occupy Central movement, Benny Tai Yiu-ting, has been sent back to jail to await the outcome of his appeal against his conviction and prison sentence over the 2014 protests.

The Court of Appeal reserved judgment on the long-awaited appeal on Thursday, and revoked Tai’s bail at the conclusion of the three-day hearing.

Prosecutors had objected to Tai’s release on the grounds he was “alleged to have committed a crime” while out on court bail.

Tai is among the 47 opposition figures currently facing subversion charges under the Beijing-imposed national security law over an unofficial primary run-off last year.

The 56-year-old legal scholar and the movement’s two other co-founders – retired sociologist Chan Kin-man, 62, and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, 77 – were among nine democracy advocates returning to court this week in a bid to overturn their 2019 convictions on a string of public nuisance charges over their roles in the 79-day protests that brought parts of the city to a standstill.

Occupy Central protesters gather on Harcourt Road in Admiralty on the day the movement launched in 2014. Photo: K.Y. Cheng