Free Republic

NEW YORK (AP) — A Chinese American scholar was convicted Tuesday of U.S. charges of using his reputation as a pro-democracy activist to gather information on dissidents and feed it to his homeland’s government... Prosecutors said that at the behest of China’s main intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security, Wang lived a double life for over a decade. He held himself out as a critic of the Chinese government so that he could build rapport with people who actually opposed it, then betrayed their trust by telling Beijing what they said and planned, prosecutors said.... Instead of sending the...

Tai was a leading figure in Hong Kong’s 2014 “Umbrella” protests, which paralysed the city for 79 days as demonstrators occupied main roads demanding greater democracy. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison last year for two public nuisance offences, but released on bail pending an appeal - a conviction that prompted HKU to begin reviewing his position. Tai was also singled out by Beijing officials this month for his role in helping organise an unofficial primary vote for the opposition pro-democracy camp to select candidates for elections to the city legislature. The officials said the vote was illegal...